Georgia Pulls Clear in the SEC as Alabama and Texas Win and the Rest of the League Bunches Up

Georgia settled one question on Saturday and left the rest of the Southeastern Conference with plenty still to sort out. The Bulldogs beat No. 10 Ole Miss 42-7. In ESPN's Week 10 wrap, Kyle Bonagura wrote that the win leaves Georgia as the league's clear top team. With No. 1 Miami losing to Notre Dame, it could also move the Bulldogs to No. 1 nationally when the committee updates its rankings this week.

The standings behind Georgia (8-1) are crowded. Alabama, Kentucky, Texas and Tennessee each have two conference losses, and South Carolina, LSU, Missouri and Oklahoma each have three. Bonagura compared the race to the NFL and noted that the SEC title game could realistically match a two-loss team against a three-loss team.

Two of the two-loss teams improved their position. Alabama had lost to Georgia and Tennessee in October but was fifth in the committee's first release, and it followed that with a 31-13 win at No. 14 LSU. According to ESPN's game recap, Keelon Russell played through an ankle injury and threw three touchdown passes. The Tide also stopped LSU on all four of its fourth-down tries. Sam Leavitt threw for 380 yards for the Tigers but was intercepted once. Russell said the road win "just gives all the boys confidence in how good we can be." Texas had also lost two straight earlier in the season before debuting seventh in the rankings, and it beat No. 18 Missouri 34-20 on the road.

The rest of the weekend went less well for several SEC teams. Ole Miss fell to 6-3, and Bonagura questioned how much the Rebels and Kentucky, beaten soundly by Tennessee, had really built. Florida started the day No. 24 in the playoff rankings and finished it with a losing SEC record after a 23-7 loss to Oklahoma. South Carolina beat Texas A&M 17-9 for its fourth straight win, which dropped the Aggies to 4-5.

What it means for Week 11

The biggest game on next Saturday's SEC schedule is Texas at LSU on ABC. The home team is favored even though the Longhorns have the better record. LSU (6-3) is favored at -208 on Novig, and the best LSU price on the board is DraftKings at -175. That 33-cent gap between venues is the widest on any SEC favorite this week. Texas is +150 on Novig and +155 at BetMGM, and the spread is LSU -4.5. LSU's only home loss is the one to Alabama. Texas has won both of its true road games, at Tennessee and at Missouri, and lost to Florida and Oklahoma by three points each.

Florida has lost four of its last five games and plays at Kentucky on ESPN. Kentucky is favored at -156 on Novig, FanDuel has the best Kentucky price at -128, and the spread is 2.5 points. Florida is +130 on Novig.

South Carolina is the clearest favorite of the three games on the board. The Gamecocks are -326 on Novig and -310 at FanDuel at Arkansas, with the spread between 7.5 and 8.5 points. Arkansas is +228 on Novig and +266 at Kalshi. The Razorbacks have lost to Georgia, Texas A&M and Missouri by a combined 113-51.

Elsewhere, Georgia hosts a Missouri team that has lost two of its last three games, Alabama goes to Vanderbilt, Texas A&M hosts No. 13 Tennessee and Ole Miss visits Oklahoma. With this many teams tied behind Georgia, any of those games could change the order of the chase.