It gets mocked often, but it's not untrue in college football that "it just means more" when it comes to the SEC. The conference has produced the last four national champions in the sport and five of the last six. The Georgia Bulldogs, of course, account for the last two natty wins and are looking for a three-peat in the 2023 season.
SEC football is just getting started fully, though, with the majority of the teams in the conference now completing their non-conference schedules. Now they will get into the heart of conference play and hope to stay atop the SEC standings.
The most games any team has played in the conference to this point is just two, which has been done by South Carolina, LSU, and Mississippi State. Meanwhile, overall on the 2023 season, there is only one team, Vanderbilt, that isn't .500 or better after Week 4.
But before the SEC standings start to take shape in conference, let's try to stack these teams up differently. Namely, let's order the standings by point differential through Week 4 to see how the teams in the conference measure up against each other.
SEC standings ordered by point differential through Week 4
- Georgia Bulldogs (+121)
- Ole Miss Rebels (+94)
- Kentucky Wildcats (+90)
- Texas A&M Aggies (+88)
- LSU Tigers (+71)
- Tennessee Volunteers (+71)
- Alabama Crimson Tide (+67)
- Auburn Tigers (+64)
- Florida Gators (+57)
- Arkansas Razorbacks (+55)
- Missouri Tigers (+39)
- Mississippi State Bulldogs (+14)
- South Carolina Gamecocks (+9)
- Vanderbilt Commodores (+5)
Given the strength of Georgia's schedule, something that was widely criticized coming into the season, this isn't all that surprising to see them well above the rest of the SEC at this point in the year. It is a testament to the overall strength of the conference, though, that all 14 teams currently hold a positive point differential for the 2023 season, even a team like Vanderbilt that is now 2-3 overall to start the year.
SEC East standings ordered by point differential
- Georgia Bulldogs (+121)
- Kentucky Wildcats (+90)
- Tennessee Volunteers (+71)
- Florida Gators (+57)
- Missouri Tigers (+39)
- South Carolina Gamecocks (+9)
- Vanderbilt Commodores (+5)
Perhaps the most revelatory things to take away from these standings and point differentials for the SEC East is how good Kentucky has been and how narrow the margins have been for 4-0 Missouri.
In the case of the Wildcats, the addition of Devin Leary this offseason appears to be paying dividends, especially with Liam Coen back in the fold and calling the offense. Having said that, Kentucky hasn't played much real competition at all as you could argue that their Week 4 win over Vanderbilt was their most impressive to date.
As for Missouri, the Tigers haven't blown a single team out aside from a 35-10 win over FCS South Dakota in Week 1. Having said that, Eli Drinkwitz's team has fought hard with wins over Kansas State and Memphis in the past two weeks. Even if the combined margin of victory was just 10 points, they don't discredit tallies in the win column for a lack of style points.
SEC West standings ordered by point differential
- Ole Miss Rebels (+94)
- Texas A&M Aggies (+88)
- LSU Tigers (+71)
- Alabama Crimson Tide (+67)
- Auburn Tigers (+64)
- Arkansas Razorbacks (+55)
- Mississippi State Bulldogs (+14)
It's safe to say the SEC West standings when sorted by point differential are far more surprising than in the East. Ole Miss beat up on bad teams to start their schedule, building up a big number, but then also only lost by 14 points to Alabama. Meanwhile, as for the Crimson Tide, only beating the USF Bulls by 14 points the week prior undoubtedly feels like why they're only at No. 4 in these newly ordered standings.
Perhaps the biggest shock is Texas A&M sitting at No. 2, however. The Aggies are 3-1 on the season with a 15-point loss to Miami and are still up 88 points overall on the 2023 season. I guess that's what beating New Mexico 52-10 and then UL Monroe 47-3 will do for you in terms of point differential.
