Dogs consider SEC East still ‘very wide open’

Georgia; 4-2; 6-2; at Kentucky Saturday, vs. Auburn Nov. 15

Florida; 3-3; 4-3; at Vanderbilt Saturday, vs. South Carolina Nov. 15

Kentucky; 2-4; 5-4; vs. Georgia Saturday, at Tennessee Nov. 15

South Carolina; 2-5; 4-5; at Florida Nov. 15

Tennessee; 1-4; 4-5; vs. Kentucky Nov. 15, vs. Missouri Nov. 22, at Vanderbilt Nov. 29

Vanderbilt; 0-5; 3-6; vs. Florida Saturday, at Miss State Nov. 22, vs. Tennessee Nov. 29

Don’t even try to make sense of this sequence: Georgia won by 34 points at Missouri, which then won by 29 at Florida, which then beat Georgia by 18 at a neutral site.

So it has gone this season in the SEC East, where each Saturday seems to contradict the previous one.

The lack of a commanding team underscores the division’s recent reputation as “SEC Least,” but it also gives Georgia hope — even in the aftermath of the humbling loss to Florida — that another turn of events will propel it into the SEC Championship game at the Georgia Dome. Although Missouri currently leads the East, its hold on first place seems tenuous, given the division’s erratic course the past two months.

“Missouri still has three SEC games left, and there are games they could win, they could lose,” Georgia wide receiver Michael Bennett said. “It’s going to be hard games for them, but we also have tough games coming up, too.

“So it’s all very wide open, we know that. … The season is not over by any aspect, and I don’t think anyone in this program thinks it is.”

Georgia’s remaining SEC games are Saturday at Kentucky and Nov. 15 at home against Western Division power Auburn. The Bulldogs (6-2, 4-2 SEC) are favored by 10 points over Kentucky (5-4, 2-4), but the Wildcats are 5-1 at home, including a win over South Carolina, which beat Georgia.

Missouri (7-2, 4-1) is off this week before playing at Texas A&M, at Tennessee and at home against Arkansas.

Although it’s the only team that controls its destiny in the East, Missouri still isn’t the favorite to win the division, according to ESPN’s Football Power Index. That index puts Georgia’s chances at 51 percent, Missouri’s at 30 percent and Florida’s at 20 percent as of this week. (Those add up to 101 percent because of rounding.)

After Georgia lost to South Carolina on Sept. 13, coach Mark Richt emphasized that the East championship was still attainable. But after the loss to Florida, he took a different approach.

“We didn’t talk much about that this time around,” Richt said. “I mean, we know mathematically that’s still a possibility and all, but if we don’t win it doesn’t matter. I guess that’s the best way to say it. Let’s just try to win this week. We’ll worry about the rest later.”

Here are some of the ways the East could play out:

“If at the end of the year we win out and Missouri wins out, kudos to them,” Georgia quarterback Hutson Mason said. “But we feel pretty confident that if we take care of our business, we should have a pretty good shot of playing in Atlanta.”

Missouri seeks a second consecutive East championship, having clinched the division last season by going 4-0 in November.

“We’re certainly aware what’s out there,” Missouri coach Gary Pinkel said. “We were in the same position a year ago. That team handled it. Can this team handle it? I don’t know. We’ll see.

“We’re fortunate to be in position to have a chance. We’ll see what we can do with it.”

Missouri has won three consecutive games (over Florida, Vanderbilt and Kentucky) since losing to Georgia. But reasons remain for skepticism about the Tigers, including an offense that ranks 13th in the SEC and a non-conference loss to Indiana (winless in the Big Ten).

“We feel like we still have a chance to do what we set out to do,” Georgia defensive tackle Toby Johnson said. “We feel like if we just take it one game at a time, eventually everything else will take care of itself.”

Whoever wins the East figures to be a heavy underdog against the West champ in the SEC title game. But the East teams will worry about their own maddening division first.