No. 1 Texas, No. 5 Tennessee and No. 6 Ole Miss poised to challenge usual SEC powers

NORMAN, Okla. (AP) — Georgia, Alabama and LSU have combined to win every Southeastern Conference championship game for the past decade.

The trio’s reign of dominance is far from a sure thing this season.

With the SEC increasing to 16 teams after adding Texas and Oklahoma, even reaching the title game will be difficult. And though Georgia has won two of the past three national titles and played in six of the last seven conference championship games, the Bulldogs looked vulnerable when they barely escaped with a 13-12 win at Kentucky on Sept. 14. That close call that cost them the No. 1 ranking.

The usual conference favorites face off when No. 2 Georgia visits No. 4 Alabama on Saturday, but it may not be the championship preview it often is billed to be. Three SEC teams in particular -- No. 1 Texas, No. 5 Tennessee and No. 6 Ole Miss — look poised to challenge for supremacy.

Texas is a heavy favorite against struggling Mississippi State in its first-ever SEC game Saturday, but Longhorns coach Steve Sarkisian doesn’t care. He knows anything can happen. After all, then-No. 7 Missouri had to squeak out an overtime win agajnst Vanderbilt last Saturday.

“The way we look at it, this is an SEC championship game,” Sarkisian said. “Just like we used to (approach it) when we were in the Big 12. Every week in the conference, especially with the amount of teams and no divisions -- you better finish up top if you want get into the SEC championship game.”

The league no longer will have two division winners play for the conference title; it will just take the top two teams in the standings. In Sarkisian’s eyes, that makes the margin of error razor thin in the race for a spot in the SEC championship game, where the winner could earn a bye in the College Football Playoff and have a chance of earning the No. 1 seed.

“Once you lose one, now you leave yourself susceptible to, ‘Well, what if there’s a four-team tie in second place?’” Sarkisian said. “I don’t know if you guys saw the tiebreaker rules for who gets in the championship game, but I did. I stopped reading after about two pages worth. I don’t really know how you get in if you’re tied. So let’s not try to get into a tie.”

Tennessee coach Josh Heupel, known for his high-scoring, up-tempo offenses, has a defense he can lean on. Tennessee leads the nation in total defense and the Vols have outscored opponents 216-28.

“At the end of the day, if you want to play really high-level football, you got to have a high level of defense,” Heupel said. “And our guys are playing really well. They’re excited about the way they’re playing, but they also know that there’s more out there. And it’s been fun seeing this group continue to grow from there.”

Ole Miss is on fire early as it seeks its first SEC title since 1963. The Rebels have beaten Furman, Middle Tennessee, Wake Forest and Georgia Southern by a combined 220-22, the largest margin by any SEC team through the first four games of a season. Ole Miss is tied with Texas for the national lead in points allowed, giving up just 5.5 per game.

Jaxson Dart leads the nation with 388.5 yards passing per game and Tre Harris is second nationally with 157 yards receiving per contest. The Rebels lead the nation in total offense and passing offense and have outgained opponents 2,683 yards to 956.

Receiver Juice Wells wore a hoodie featuring the words “humble over hype” to his interview session on Monday as a reminder to self and others. The Rebels’ stats look good, but they are untested entering the league opener against Kentucky.

“Statistically, the teams we’ve played and the defenses we’ve played have struggled this year,” Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin said. “So we’re going to find out a lot more about that. That’s why I’m not making big statements about where we’re ranked or where we are on offense or defense. I’ve said we’ve got a chance to be really elite and really good, but we’re going to have to prove that against bigger and better players.”

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Cliff Brunt, The Associated Press