Kentucky is down to playing a defensive back at quarterback. South Carolina, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Vanderbilt and Arkansas have all been uncertain at the position, their fates unkind. Florida has at least weathered the transitional storm. But the rest of the league’s elite teams have been set at the position — until now. What will be the upshot of Tua Tagovailoa’s ankle sprain? No one knows. But the main question in the SEC for at least the next three weeks will be the timeliness of Tua’s return.

Rank	Team	Last Week
1		1	Will Alabama be No. 1, performance-wise, when it plays Arkansas? When it plays LSU, if the starting quarterback is out? So far, Alabama merits the ranking. But the future is unwritten.
2		2	With all the hype surrounding Alabama-LSU, the Tiger vs. Tiger matchup bringing Auburn to the bayou is low-key massive. Can the Auburn brand keep up in a score-a-thon?
3		4	AU will bring the best defense that LSU has seen (sorry, Florida) to Baton Rouge.
4		3	Ed Orgeron is probably headed for SEC Coach of the Year honors but all votes for Dan Mullen should definitely be counted.
5		3	Georgia mascot UGA X chose not to leave his warm, dry house to watch a slopfest against Kentucky. Good dog.
6		7	Not quite as good as the best, not quite as bad as the others. The Aggies still have a chance to play spoiler.
7		6	If there were any way to drop Mizzou further after its disastrous loss to Vanderbilt, I would. The teams below them won’t allow it.
8		8	Will Muschamp has the look of a coach who is seething with frustration, partly at the officials and partly at his own team, which is a piece or two short of being good.
9		10	Currently the SEC standard for “doing the best that it can.”
10		9	Currently not the SEC standard for “doing the best that it can.”
11		11	The quarterback issues in Lexington can mean only one thing, as much as I hate to say it: basketball season.
12		12	Tennessee looks like a team that needs at least one more recruiting cycle, not just to add talent but also to be more unified under Jeremy Pruitt.
13		14	The Commodores showed me. After semi-permanent relegation to the basement, Vandy got a big win and pulled itself out of the dank dungeon of 14th place.
14		13	The Razorbacks has avoided the cellar by some close losses but deserve it this week, if only because of the ugliest fake punt ever (and 51 Auburn points).