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SEC Football Power Rankings 2017: Week 3 Edition

By Hunter Kinniburgh

BATON ROUGE, LA - SEPTEMBER 09: Derrius Guice #5 of the LSU Tigers runs with the ball as Tavon Lawson #4 of the Chattanooga Mocs defends during the second half of a game at Tiger Stadium on September 9, 2017 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. (Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images)
BATON ROUGE, LA - SEPTEMBER 09: Derrius Guice #5 of the LSU Tigers runs with the ball as Tavon Lawson #4 of the Chattanooga Mocs defends during the second half of a game at Tiger Stadium on September 9, 2017 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. (Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images) /
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(Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images)
(Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images) /

Much like Texas A&M, Kentucky was sluggish against Eastern Kentucky, in a game that the Wildcats were lucky to come out of with a win. Kentucky was a team that many, including myself, were expecting to to have improved and show some marked improvement in this season, but so far the Wildcats have really yet to show it.

The win over Southern Miss was a close game, which was then followed up with the lackluster performance against Eastern Kentucky. Not exactly the start to the season many, especially Wildcat fans, expected from the team to start 2017. In the end, the Wildcats are still 2-0 to start, but it’s not the best 2-0 start that many wanted to see.

Sure it was Alabama A&M, but to see the Vanderbilt offense do so well was a sight to see. Not to mention their great defense posting the shut out. Commodore fans have to be happy. Most impressive for me was Kyle Shurmur.

Shurmur has been somewhat up in down since being named starter last season, but boy has he looked good in the first two games of 2017. If Shurmur keeps this up then he could make Vanderbilt a threat in the East. The last couple seasons the Commodores defense had been there but their offense was never able to compete against the top teams in the East. That changed somewhat last season, and it appears to be even more improved this season. Kyle Shurmur and Vanderbilt will be ones to keep in eye on once conference matchups start.

Arkansas’s new look defense was exposed against TCU, as the Horned Frogs got revenge for their loss to the Razorbacks last season with a solid victory over the Hogs on Saturday. The poor showing of the Arkansas defense isn’t as shocking to me as is the total ineptitude of the offense in this game.

Related Story: Arkansas Football: 5 overreactions from loss to TCU

Austin Allen was as bad as i’ve ever seen, only completing nine (yes, nine) passes in the game on 23 attempts. Allen never got in a rhythm and it showed as the offense was seemingly terrorized by the TCU defense. Give credit to TCU, they do have a good defense, but I and many others, expected much more from the Razorbacks. The loss does not do well for the job security of Arkansas head coach Bret Bielema, who with this loss falls to 26-27 in his career as head coach at Arkansas.

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