SEC seemingly much more balanced this season than in past

FAYETTEVILLE — As November approaches the SEC has an interesting race going on.

Texas A&M (5-0) is the lone undefeated team in SEC play and 10 more teams are within two games of first place. Four teams have one loss in SEC play while six more squads lost twice. Sam Pittman was asked Monday if he feels the transfer portal is at least partially responsible for the parity?

“I think so. I mean, first of all I don’t think any of us really know what kind of team you have until you go there out and play,” Pittman said. “And it’s not like bringing in 25 freshmen. You’re going to bring in 20 or so. This Is like bringing in 10-15 guys who can change immediately — because they’re older, they’ve played — so I do think that has a lot to do with it. I do.”

The league has seen Vanderbilt beat Alabama and take Texas to the finish line before narrowly losing. Kentucky (3-5, 1-5) is near the bottom of the 2SEC just ahead of Mississippi State. Yet, the Wildcats went to Oxford and defeated Ole Miss (6-2, 2-2) 20-17 on Saturday, Sept. 28. Arkansas (5-3, 3-2) defeated then No. 4 Tennessee 19-14 on Saturday, Oct. 5.

The one-loss teams in SEC play are Georgia (6-1, 4-1), Texas (7-1, 3-1), Tennessee 6-1, 3-1) and LSU (6-2, 3-1). Hanging close with two losses in SEC play are Alabama (6-2, 3-2), Arkansas (5-3, 3-2), Missouri (6-2, 2-2), Ole Miss (6-2, 2-2), Vanderbilt (5-3, 2-2) and Florida (4-3, 2-2).

The other five SEC teams are South Carolina (4-3, 2-3), Oklahoma (4-4, 1-4), Auburn (3-5, 1-4), Kentucky (3-5, 1-5) and Mississippi State (1-7, 0-5).

The parity is particularly interesting this season since the College Football Playoff field has been expanded to 12 teams. Will the SEC teams beating up on each other cause the SEC to get fewer teams in the playoffs?

ESPN has released its projected 12-team field for this week. ESPN has Georgia (2), Texas (5), Texas A&M (6) and Tennessee (12) in the field.

The rest of ESPN’s 12-team field is Oregon (1), Penn State (3), Ohio State (4), Miami (7), BYU (8), Indiana (9), Boise State (10) and Clemson (11). That would be four teams from the Big Ten, two from the ACC and one from the Big 12. The Group of 5 goes to Boise State at this time following their 29-24 win over UNLV this past Friday night. Boise State is led by Heisman Trophy front runner tailback Ashton Jeanty. He has rushed 159 times for 1,376 yards and 18 touchdowns this season. He also has pulled down 12 passes for 50 yards and a touchdown.

It’s not just the SEC with parity either. The ACC has four teams undefeated in league action and all are in the Top 25. Clemson (6-1, 5-0), Miami (8-0, 4-0), SMU (7-1, 4-0) and Pittsburgh (7-0, 3-0).

In the Big Ten, three teams are undefeated in conference play and another with one loss. Indiana (8-0, 5-0), Oregon (8-0, 5-0), Penn State (7-0, 4-0) and Ohio State (6-1, 3-1). Illinois (6-2, 3-2) is ranked No. 24 in the nation.

The Big 12 has two squads unbeaten in league play and another pair with just one loss. BYU (8-0, 5-0), Iowa State (7-0, 4-0), Kansas State (7-1, 4-1) and Colorado (6-2, 4-1) are all ranked in the Top 25. BYU and Iowa State don’t play in the regular season.

The parity in college football combined with the expanded field in the playoffs makes this for a very exciting finish to the season.