It’s not much of a secret that the Southeastern Conference has dominated college football for quite some time now.  The SEC is home to the last two National Champions (Florida in 2006 and LSU in 2007), and this year five of the top ten teams in the AP poll: Georgia, Florida, LSU, Alabama and Auburn.  This weekend brings two big SEC rivalry matchups that should begin to clear up this year’s big picture in the conference; #4 Florida plays at Tennessee, who lost their spot in the Top 25 with a defeat at UCLA, and #6 LSU plays at #10 Auburn. 
 
The loser of the LSU and Auburn matchup will most likely be eliminated from National Championship contention, especially in a very strong SEC.  Auburn’s tough front seven will look to pressure inexperienced LSU quarterback Andrew Hatch, a Harvard transfer who won the job when Ryan Perrilloux was kicked off the team during the preseason. 
 
And Florida can’t afford to lose to an unranked team if Tebow and the Gators still have designs on taking home the hardware.  Tennessee, with star running back Arian Foster, opened the season ranked in the top 25, but dropped out after just one week with a loss against Rick Neuheisel’s UCLA Bruins.  Beating Florida on Saturday would certainly vault Tennessee back into the rankings.
 
Georgia and Alabama don’t exactly have fluff games this Saturday playing at Arizona State and Arkansas, respectively.  And things are not going to get any easier, especially for the #3 Bulldogs.  Their two Heisman hopefuls, Knowshon Moreno and Matthew Stafford, get all the best teams in the SEC this season; they will see Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Alabama, and Florida at home, and Kentucky, LSU, and Auburn on the road. Unless a lot changes in the SEC between now and when those games are played, Georgia has the toughest schedule that I’ve ever seen.