SEC means more… surprises? Three top-10 teams fall, led by Vanderbilt's win over Alabama

Lane Kiffin wasn't ready to talk about his own game. The Mississippi coach instead focused on Vanderbilt's final moments Stunning surprise from then No. 1 Alabama.

“I’m sorry, I mean this is a one-time thing,” Kiffin told reporters afterward the rebel victory over South Carolina. “You better watch, you’ll probably never see this again.”

The Southeastern Conference biggest upheavals So far, these crimes are not due to newcomers Oklahoma and Texas, but rather to unlikely perpetrators.

Think Kentucky instead of Mississippi, Arkansas instead of Tennessee, Texas A&M instead of Missouri. And the ultimate shock: Vanderbilt topples the mighty Crimson Tide for the first time in 40 years. Three top-10 SEC teams were eliminated last weekend, two of them against unranked league brethren, and the Rebels had lost to Kentucky a week earlier.

Arkansas and Vandy defeated the SEC powers and their fans stormed the field. Chances are, both schools will find the league's six-figure fines worth it.

All these surprises – coupled with seventh place Tide's win over No. 5 Georgia — left No. 1 seed Texas heading into Saturday's Red River Rivalry with Big 12 breakaway No. 18 Oklahoma. Pretty, but hardly pleasant considering how things have been going in the SEC.

The Longhorns are already the only undefeated SEC team and have won their only league game – as has LSU (4-1 overall).

No. 15 Texas A&M is 3-0 in the SEC, including the 41-10 romp via then-No. 9 Missouri. Everyone else has at least one league defeat.

Aggies running back Le'Veon Moss isn't afraid to say that they are currently the front runners, at least based on the rankings.

“You can say that,” Moss said, “but there’s a lot more to come.”

That's true for SEC play in general, as all of this happened before mid-October.

The SEC just means more… surprises?

Whenever upsets occur, coaches can do away with the familiar clichés of not overlooking anyone and tout the strength of the SEC. Or talk about the impact of the transfer portal as the ultimate quick fix.

All cases can be valid declarations that are made on a case-by-case basis. Finally, look at Vandy transfer quarterback Diego Pavia taking over Alabama's defense. Arkansas stops Tennessee's potent offense. The Aggies built a 24-0 halftime lead over Missouri.

“It's too easy to make sweeping generalizations about what happened this weekend,” said LSU coach Brian Kelly, whose 13th-ranked Tigers host No. 9 Ole Miss on Saturday. “But I have to say that in college football, every weekend is a different weekend, and as long as I'm doing it, I approach every week with the vision: You can't assume anything when you're dealing with young men who “It’s easy to get distracted today.”

Kelly also cites “investment in college football across the board” as another factor.

Parity, anyone? Maybe, but Alabama's loss was pretty good timing for Longhorns coach Steve Sarkisian, who believes that in the SEC “anyone can beat anyone” and “you have to prepare every week like it's a championship game every Saturday.”

Now he can simply point to recent results to make this clear to his team.

“The value for me was reinforcing a lot of the things we talked about as a team,” Sarkisian said. “And whenever you have concrete examples for young people, I think it's helpful that they can see and understand why our message is what it is.”

The season is nearing its halfway point and few things are certain, including how many SEC teams could end up in the playoffs. Despite the surprises, five remain in the top 10.

The early results mean that teams like Alabama and Georgia appear to be less sure things, although they are still likely playoff bets.

Now the Longhorns must avoid overlooking Oklahoma because of Georgia or Georgia because of the giant Commodores. Vandy is 3-2 with wins over Virginia Tech and Alabama.

“This promotion is only going to get more challenging because we're not going to sneak up on anyone anymore,” Commodores coach Clark Lea said.

All of this makes the rest of the regular season worth watching.

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AP Sportswriters Pete Iacobelli, Teresa Walker, Mark Long, Jim Vertuno, Brett Martel and Kristie Rieken contributed to this report.

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