Inside the AP Poll: The SEC is finding success with 10 teams ranked after Week 3

In the Southeastern Conference, they say It Just Means More.

As we look at the brand-new AP Top 25, we might as well say It Just Means More (SEC Teams). Ten SEC teams find themselves ranked this week, which means nearly two-thirds of the conference is currently in the Top 25.

That’s pretty impressive, and it makes a lot of sense considering what we’ve seen from nonconference play so far this year. The SEC is 10-2 vs. the Big Ten, Big 12 and ACC combined. And it’s not just No. 1 Texas and the top of the conference carrying the torch for the SEC, either. Mississippi State trounced Minnesota, 38-13, in Week 2 — the same Mississippi State that finished third-to-last in the SEC a year ago.

Takeaways from College Football Week 3: Ole Miss gets its revenge and NC State loses in disastrous fashion

Week 3 in college football brought an instant classic in Oxford and the opposite of an instant classic in Nashville.

• Nicole Auerbach,

Now, of course, the Bulldogs are 3-0 and ranked for the first time in four years. They’re led by a Bonafide Heisman Trophy candidate in dual-threat quarterback Kamario Taylor, who is second in the SEC in passing behind only Trinidad Chambliss. With two big wins over P4 opponents to date, Mississippi State finds itself the darling of college football right now.

Or should that distinction go to Kentucky, after Will Stein won his first SEC game by going on the road and upsetting then-No. 9 Texas A&M at Kyle Field?

Or maybe to Florida, now that Jon Sumrall seems to have the Gators going in the right direction for the first time in years?

Wait. What about the Georgia team that was so dominant in its win over Arkansas it had defensive linemen doing individual drills during a television timeout to make sure that they actually got work in?

But no. Ole Miss has to be the belle of the ball, right? The Rebels delivered one of the most cathartic wins in the history of college football on Saturday night, beating Lane Kiffin’s LSU squad nine months after Kiffin abandoned the Rebels amid a historic season and right before they’d make their first College Football Playoff appearance. Chambliss sure looks like the best quarterback in the country, doesn’t he?

Now, the jury’s still out on some of these other SEC teams. Next weekend, we’ll learn a lot more about Tennessee as the top-ranked Longhorns come to town, and we'll learn plenty about Mizzou when it travels to take on the red-hot Bulldogs in Starkville. Alabama has looked good so far, but will the Tide’s resurgent run game show up against the best of the SEC?

And LSU was certainly overhyped a bit after its Week 1 win over a Clemson team that, as it turns out, isn’t very good at all. Sam Leavitt leaves a lot to be desired as a passer, which could be a huge problem for the LSU offense against defenses from the likes of Alabama and Texas come November. Or even sooner than that!

It's far too early to say definitively that the SEC is going to snap its skid and win its first football national championship in four years. There are too many meaningful games that must be played between now and January to say anything super definitive about the CFP at this point. But there is one thing we can say for certain: The SEC couldn't have asked for a better start to the season — and us AP voters made sure to recognize that this week.

Stray thoughts/observations:

– Uh, did my fellow voters watch what happened in College Station on Saturday? How is it possible that Texas A&M is still ranked but Kentucky —the team that just beat ‘em — isn’t? Guys????

– Ole Miss received three first-place votes, and I get it. The top teams have played such different schedules to date, so I completely understand voting for the Rebels, who have two wins over teams currently ranked in the top 16. That Week 1 win over Louisville looks even better now after the Cards took down SMU.