How the West is Won

The SEC West has a reputation for being synonymous with tough, but this is getting ridiculous.The division as a whole has lost to non-division teams only once this year when Arkansas lost to Georgia in the middle of October. There are five teams still standing in what could go down as the wildest, most competitive division race that will ever be played.Only two of those five teams, Ole Miss and Mississippi State, currently control their own fate. If either of those teams can win out then they will go on to claim the division. That’s the boring outcome. Luckily it is also one of the more unlikely outcomes. The Mississippi schools have both shown tremendous talent and extraordinary resolve on their way to upsetting the balance of the SEC Western division.The traditional powerhouses possess something that the upstart Mississippi schools do not. Alabama, Auburn, and LSU all possess experience being on top and consequently they have all learned how to handle the added pressure that comes with being on top. Ole Miss (and Bo Wallace in particular) let the high ranking affect their play last week as the Ole Miss offense played tight for much of the game. In the end, the Rebels lost the edge and the attitude they possessed when they were playing as underdogs. Bo Wallace’s desperate Hail Mary would end up costing the No. 3 Rebels dearly as they were upset by then-unranked LSU.Speaking of the Bayou Bengals, LSU remains alive in the West, albeit with the slimmest of chances. The Tigers would need a number of things to go their way. The biggest obstacle is Mississippi State. The Tigers likely need the Bulldogs to lose three of their four remaining SEC games. With two of Mississippi State’s remaining games involve struggling Arkansas and the disastrous Vanderbilt Commodores, it is likely that the Tigers will be disappointed.Should Mississippi State lose road contests against the Crimson Tide and their in-state rival Ole Miss then the situation could get very interesting. This situation could allow for a five-way tie in the SEC West. Auburn gets the chaos started by handing Ole Miss their second loss. LSU then takes advantage of Alabama’s road struggles and beats the Tide at home, but Alabama bounces back and defeats in-state foe Auburn. Just like that, five SEC West schools have two losses. At this point the SEC will embark upon the most perilously confusing tie breaker scenario known to man. The SEC Network will likely have to run an hour long program just to explain it all. ESPN will also likely produce a documentary years from now that will cover the riots that are sure to ensue at the other four campuses.The tiebreaker would essentially boil down to who played the SEC East teams with the best conference record. It is impossible to project who would actually win this tiebreaker today but a few assumptions can certainly be made. Ole Miss would likely be the first one eliminated as neither Vanderbilt nor Tennessee has won any SEC games at this point. Alabama and Mississippi State would likely follow suit as Tennessee and Vanderbilt would likely weigh down those teams, respectively. Auburn would probably ultimately win the tiebreaker— as Georgia currently projects to win the East—but LSU could potentially edge Auburn if Kentucky and Florida make significant late season pushes.Speaking of Auburn, the Tigers should be huge supporters of in-state foe Alabama and vice versa. The SEC West has essentially become a power struggle between the states of Alabama and Mississippi. Mississippi took round one but the state of Alabama can win round two if Auburn can knock off Ole Miss for Alabama while Alabama returns the favor by knocking off Mississippi State. If both Auburn and Alabama win out (and if Mississippi State drops a second SEC game) then the Iron Bowl will serve as a play-in for the SEC Championship for the second consecutive year. If the Magnolia state sweeps the Alabama schools then the Egg Bowl will replace the Iron Bowl as the play-in for the bid to Atlanta.When it comes down to it, the most important thing the SEC West contenders need to do is win. Winning out is the only thing these teams can control. There is a lot of football left to play and any number of crazy situations could present themselves over the next few weeks. The SEC West has already proven to be the toughest division in college football. The next few weeks will show whether the division is capable of producing a team that is tough enough to survive the West intact. 78