… heck, even 2 years ago … you’d told me that UF would be 7 on a legit SEC power poll, with UGA 8, UK 9 and UT 10 … I would have said you were in need of immediate psychiatric treatment.

Ive been giving this a lot of thought … why this year are we so better than the traditional eastern division bullies, who’ve out-recruited us (according to the national wonks who follow that stuff) for years on-end? Part of it is just natural cycles … head coaching mistakes (Kiffin), losing great NFL-caliber talent (UF) … assistant coaching errors (UGA?). And the HBC is still as crafty as it comes, and he has his best staff ever.

But part of me truly believes it’s because the HBC has managed to turn the off the out-of-state tap. I probably sound like a broken drum, but five years ago, Jeffery would be a star WR at UF; Lattimore would have been the sensational UT tail back; and Stephon Gilmore the lock down corner at UGA. In a league where everyone has great talent, and superior coaching, its just having those few extra special players (e.g., Tebow, Newton, Ingram) who carry a team to championships. That’s the margin of error in the SEC. Fortunately, we’re keeping that talent at home!

I would take issue with some absolute rankings (UF should be lower; SC should be higher) but I see what you did there - gotta be above/below the teams you beat/lost to I suppose. I dont see the signature win that Arkansas really notched this year besides Carolina. They had all the talent and I’m not really sure what happened there.

Good game; if it had to be anyone, I’m glad it was the HBC that laid it on us like that.