The Southeastern Conference has long been thought to be the dominant conference in college football, but Monday proved it with eight teams landing in the AP Top 25 poll. The conference with the next highest number of teams is the Big 10 with four.
Alabama continued its stranglehold on the No.1 spot, receiving 1,522 points, including 59 of 61 first-place votes. No. 3 Ohio State and No. 4 Clemson got the other top vote.
No. 2 Georgia, another SEC team, is now 96 points behind the Crimson Tide. They were 92 points last week.
The other SEC teams in the top 25 are, No. 13 LSU, No. 14 Florida, No. 18 Kentucky, No. 21 Auburn, No. 22 Texas A&M, and No. 24 Mississippi State.
LSU coach Ed Orgeron was not surprised that eight out of the 14 teams were ranked.
“Great coaches, great recruiting area, cutting edge football on both sides,” Orgeron said. “Very competitive. It’s a player-driven league. This is where most of the players from the NFL come from here. They have great coaches in this league and this is a very, very many competitive league. This is where everybody wants to be.”
Top Conference Takes Hit
While the SEC has eight teams, two of them fell down the poll. LSU began Saturday as the No. 5 team, but dropped eight spots after losing on the road to Florida, 27-19. Ironically, the Gators are still a spot behind the Tigers despite the upset.
It doesn’t get any easier for the Tigers, who are hosting second-ranked Georgia. LSU is a 7-point underdog.
Kentucky was the other big drop from the conference. They fell five spots after being upset by previously unranked Texas A&M. The Wildcats were getting 5.5 points for playing on the road, but it wasn’t enough, as they failed to cover the spread for the third time this season.
The Aggies victory was the first for new coach Jimbo Fischer. Fisher told reporters he didn’t feel like the victory was needed to validate the program.
“I’m not saying it’s a “had to win” game,” Fisher said. “I thought it was a fork in the road. Coming into the game, I thought it was a great measure and a statement game for us.”
Notre Dame Cracks Top 5
With LSU losing, it gave Notre Dame the opportunity to move up a spot to No. 5. The Fighting Irish defeated its third ranked team of the season, downing No. 24 Virginia Tech, 45-23.
It is the first time since 2012 Notre Dame is 6-0, but coach Brian Kelly said this team is vastly different from his squad of six years ago.
“That was a very professional, older, veteran group,” Kelly said. “Not that this is a non-veteran group, but you know, we signed 27 players in our last (recruiting) class and 15 of them were on this (Virginia Tech) trip. This is a younger group that is a little bit looser.”
Another team climbing the poll is Texas. After its 48-45 thrilling win over Oklahoma, the Longhorns went from No. 19 to No. 9. The Sooners dropped all the way from No. 7 to No. 11.