Tallying Up ESPN’s Position Rankings

Nov 16, 2013; Starkville, MS, USA; Mississippi State Bulldogs linebacker Benardrick McKinney (50) tries to pump up the crowd noise against the Alabama Crimson Tide during the first quarter at Davis Wade Stadium. Mandatory Credit: John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports

Over the last couple of weeks ESPN.com SEC bloggers have been ranking SEC players and position groups. This has been an interesting series – an early look at what some professional writers believe to be the case entering the season. I don’t agree or disagree with any or all of these rankings – frankly it’s June 24th and I have not dived in this deep yet (if I do the summer will crawl by with the pace of an elderly snail). After the 4th of July we’ll start taking a closer look at the SEC and MSU on M&WN.

So let’s take a look at how MSU stacks up. And when we get to the end we’ll average them all together and see what we can come up with.

Quarterbacks

1. Auburn
2. Mississippi State
3. Ole Miss
4. Missouri
5. Alabama
6. Florida
7. South Carolina
8. Georgia
9. Tennessee
10. LSU
11. Vanderbilt
12. Texas A&M
13. Arkansas
14. Kentucky

Running Backs

1. Alabama
2. Georgia
3. South Carolina
4. Arkansas
5. Texas A&M
6. Auburn
7. LSU
8. Florida
9. Missouri
10. Ole Miss
11. Mississippi State
12. Kentucky
13. Tennessee
14. Vanderbilt

Wide Receivers / Tight Ends

1. Alabama
2. Texas A&M
3. Georgia
4. Auburn
5. Ole Miss
6. South Carolina
7. Mississippi State
8. Tennessee
9. LSU
10. Florida
11. Missouri
12. Kentucky
13. Arkansas
14. Vanderbilt

Offensive Line

1. South Carolina
2. Texas A&M
3. LSU
4. Auburn
5. Missouri
6. Alabama
7. Mississippi State
8. Florida
9. Ole Miss
10. Georgia
11. Vanderbilt
12. Arkansas
13. Tennessee
14. Kentucky

Defensive Line

1. Alabama
2. Auburn
3. Missouri
4. Ole Miss
5. Florida
6. Mississippi State
7. LSU
8. South Carolina
9. Georgia
10. Kentucky
11. Vanderbilt
12. Arkansas
13. Texas A&M
14. Tennessee

Linebackers

1. Alabama
2. LSU
3. Georgia
4. Mississippi State
5. Florida
6. South Carolina
7. Tennessee
8. Ole Miss
9. Auburn
10. Vanderbilt
11. Missouri
12. Arkansas
13. Kentucky
14. Texas A&M

Secondary

1. Ole Miss
2. Florida
3. LSU
4. Alabama
5. Mississippi State
6. Auburn
7. Georgia
8. Tennessee
9. South Carolina
10. Texas A&M
11. Missouri
12. Kentucky
13. Arkansas
14. Vanderbilt

Special Teams

1. Texas A&M
2. Missouri
3. Georgia
4. LSU
5. South Carolina
6. Alabama
7. Arkansas
8. Florida
9. Kentucky
10. Auburn
11. Tennessee
12. Mississippi State
13. Ole Miss
14. Vanderbilt

Now, not every position group is created equal. Some have a larger impact on the game than others, but they are all relatively close. I could weight them differently and still it would come under just as much criticism as just averaging them out. So here is how these rankings shake out averaging them all out equally.

1. Alabama, 3.13
2. Auburn, 5.25
3. Georgia, 5.63
3. LSU, 5.63
3. South Carolina, 5.63
6. Florida, 6.5
7. Ole Miss, 6.63
8. Mississippi State, 6.75
9. Missouri, 7
10. Texas A&M, 7.38
11. Tennessee, 10.38
12. Arkansas, 10.75
13. Kentucky, 12
14. Vanderbilt, 12.38

According to this data, it would appear that there will be 10 good teams while UT, ARK, UK and Vandy will be everyone’s whipping boys. It’s hard to believe Tennessee could still be held back this much, and that Vandy is going to take such a dramatic dip to the bottom in nearly every category. There are some questions at the top too – are Auburn and A&M really going to have that great of an O-line after both losing a top 5 overall draft pick at left tackle? We shall see.