Rankings, results tell the story A sampling of what writers around the nation and are saying about SEC football It’s no coincidence that teams from the SEC have won the past two national championships, even if you believe Florida and LSU both were lucky to draw Ohio State in the title game. The SEC is so much better than its college football brethren at the moment that whoever wins the conference this season should be handed the Bowl Championship Series championship and then shifted to the NFC North.

The SEC has four teams among the top 10 in the current Associated Press poll, and Alabama is No. 13 after it KO’d No. 9 Clemson last Saturday. Five of the conference’s dozen coaches have won national titles. And at last month’s SEC media day, Georgia, a near-consensus No. 1 pick in the preseason polls, came in second behind Florida in the East Division.

The few programs that are consistently good enough to be mentioned alongside the SEC’s best — Southern Cal, Oklahoma and Ohio State — play in conferences that afford them plenty of breathers.

The SEC, 4-0 in BCS bowls the past two seasons and 11-4 in those games since former SEC Commissioner Roy Kramer and his power conference cronies hijacked the postseason 10 years ago.

Those marks no doubt influenced decisions by ESPN and CBS to lock up the TV rights to nearly all of the SEC’s sports for 15 years at a reported cost approaching $ 3 billion. Because of the weather and the game’s unquestioned popularity across the South, spring football is the second-most important sports season. — Jim Litke, The Associated Press Runners, on your mark Judging from what Florida’s running backs showed — or was that the Jamaican relay team out there ? — Gators’ QB Tim Tebow won’t have to win the Heisman Trophy this year for his team to have a shot to win the national title. Even with Percy Harvin on the sideline still recovering from off-season heel surgery, running backs Chris Rainey (58 yards, 1 TD ) and Jeff Demps (76 yards, 1 TD ) looked like they were staging their own challenge race in Florida’s 56-10 blowout of Hawaii. When was the last time Florida won a game having more rushing yards (255 ) than passing (151 )? — Ron Higgins, The Commercial Appeal Memphis Honeymoon continues In Saturday’s 41-24 victory over Memphis, Ole Miss wide receiver Dexter McCluster took the direct snap from center, handed the ball to running back Brandon Bolden, who then whipped it downfield to quarterback Jevan Snead for 37 yards.

That’s wide receiver-to-running back-to-quarterback, for those scoring at home.

Houston Nutt is boring ? Ole Miss fans will take this sort of boring all season long. It served as blissful reassurance that the Ed Orgeron era is a thing of the past.

In three years, Orgeron’s teams never scored 30 or more points against a Divison I opponent. Nutt’s team did it in three quarters. And, yes, Memphis qualifies as a Division I opponent. You could call it an old-fashioned butt-whipping, except there was nothing old-fashioned about it. Nutt calls the formation the Wild Rebel. Which sure beats the heck out of Orgeron’s Wild Boys. It’s not like it felt all gimmicky, either. It’s easy to overreact to the first game of a football season. But one game can shape expectations and create momentum and give fans a reason to believe. — Geoff Calkins, The Commercial Appeal Memphis Wakeup call Excuse me while I yawn.

Looking at Kentucky’s next three games can have that effect on a person. The titanic matchups that loom for Kentucky’s football team: the mighty Spartans of Norfolk State on Saturday, Middle Tennessee on Sept. 13, followed by its little brother, Western Kentucky, on Sept. 27.

Not what you’d call must-see games. The only thing I see coming are blowouts, but I digress.

If the Cats can look past the names on the front of the jerseys of the next three foes, they might just realize that these next three games are just as important as the midseason stretch against Florida, Mississippi State and Georgia. Sure, Kentucky is probably going to cruise in all three. But the most important detail, the thing the Cats need to focus on during this early season stretch, is that it provides a golden opportunity to get better. And let’s make one thing clear: They need to get better. Kentucky has three snoozers, but that can’t derail the improvement. Because if, and I mean a big if, the Cats improve and play as stout of a defense as they did in Sunday’s 27-2 victory over Louisville, we could be talking a 5-0 team on Oct. 5. That’d be something worth waking up for. — Eric Lindsey kykernel. com