This much is clear: the SEC is king. Everyone else can step aside and make way for the royalty known as the Southeastern Conference because the top three teams in the land — LSU, Alabama and Arkansas — are all from the SEC on every ranking system known to mankind here in week 12. Everyone else is left hoping for some scrap of respect after these three teams are finished.
That’s what makes this week’s match-up between the Tigers of LSU and the Razorbacks of Arkansas so compelling. One of these teams will have to fall and it’s likely the LSU-Alabama game from earlier this year, otherwise known as Kickfest 2011, will be repeated for the national championship. Maybe not, but it’s hard to argue against the SEC at this point.
Here’s the complete AP Top 25:
1 LSU
2. Alabama
3. Arkansas
4. Stanford
5. Oklahoma State
6. Virginia Tech
7. Boise State
8. Houston
9. Oregon
10. USC
11. Michigan State
12. Oklahoma
13. Georgia
14. South Carolina
15. Wisconsin
16. Kansas State
17. Michigan
18. Clemson
19. TCU
20. Penn State
21. Baylor
22. Nebraska
23. Notre Dame
24. Virginia
25. Georgia Tech