The Ramifications of Upset Saturday
Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports
Saturday was a great day to be a fan if an underdog in the SEC. So what all does it mean?
Impact on the East
And your frontrunner is… Missouri? We all know by now that no one saw Missouri’s resurgence, but not only are they the clear favorite to win the East, but also they are going to be very tough to overcome. Every other team in the division has two losses. Missouri has none. Their toughest division game is their next on against South Carolina at home. They have games remaining at Oxford and at home against Texas A&M. They are going to be favored to win every game from here on out, with the possible exception of the game at Ole Miss.
At this point, if you are fan of Missouri, you probably start thinking about your national championship possibilities. They aren’t bad considering you start the first BCS rankings at number five. It’s a nice place to be, though they will need some help if it is going to happen.
Impact on the West
The West has been narrowed down to Alabama and Auburn. I think most believed that Auburn would be better, but not this much better. Their remaining games in the SEC are at Arkansas, at Tennessee, and at home against Georgia. None of those games will be easy, but I would be surprised if they lost any of them.
LSU and Texas A&M are done. Not terribly surprised to be saying that about A&M, but LSU has traded their inconsistent anemic offense in for a more powerful, light up the scoreboard offense. The trade off was their rock solid defense. They aren’t beating Bama this year, and they might not even beat A&M. They could have four losses this year.
Impact on the Bigger Picture
National Championship hopefuls are down to Bama, Missouri, and Auburn. And Auburn would need lots of help to make it happen for them. Bama controls their own destiny. So long as they win out, they are going to be playing in the national championship game. Missouri would need a little help, but I can’t see an undefeated Missouri team beating an undefeated Bama team in the SEC Championship game and being left out of the National Championship game.
Impact on Mississippi State
As much as I hate to say it, our football program is on the precipice of irrelevancy. Their are some energized fanbases this Monday, and ours is not one of those. The only way that changes is if we get a big, upset win like Blake Morgan wrote about earlier today. I believe that Mullen is capable of rallying the team together to knock somebody off that we aren’t supposed to beat, but it’s time to start seeing it happen.