Diego Pavia and Vanderbilt might not reach the Heisman or Playoff aspirations they hoped for, but they still top this week's SEC vibes ranking. Carly Mackler / Getty Images
Apropos of nothing, or at least a point we're about to make, the Billy Joel documentary on HBO is worth watching. That includes the backstory on writing "We Didn't Start The Fire," which Joel doesn't consider his best work, especially melodically, but has probably become his most parodied.
And maybe the talented folks at SEC Shorts can get on it, just using this season: Lane Kiffin. Arch Manning. Brian Kelly. Louisiana's governor. Controversial calls. Paul Finebaum. Diego Pavia. Hugh Freeze. Mark Stoops. A policeman bumping into South Carolina players.
And on and on and on and ...
Every year is compelling, but consider last year the SEC only had three Playoff teams and zero coaching changes, while this year it looks like it will have five Playoff teams and six coaching changes. And Ole Miss has both. And not among the Playoff teams or coaching changes is the preseason No. 1 team, and the previous conference doormat that won 10 games and whose QB may be a Heisman finalist.
The SEC: Deep in stories, deep in drama. Never boring. Probably too interesting sometimes, if we're being honest.
Now with the regular season over and most coaching moves done, we present the updated vibes rankings. As a reminder, these are not pure rankings of how good the teams are. This is a ranking of the vibes: Hope, feelings, optimism, pessimism, apathy ... So in this case, not only how a program should feel about its immediate prospects, but the future based on coaching changes. Or not making changes.
That, incidentally, makes this week's rankings very subjective: How happy should you be with your new coach? How nervous are you about the Playoff or playing in the national championship? The vibes can be hard to evaluate, so when in doubt, just remember which program people were ready to kick out of the SEC two years ago, and where that program is now:
The Brent Venables experience so far in Norman: 6-7, then 10-3, then 6-7, and now 10-2.
So next year may be bad. But for now, enjoy this ride, Sooner fans: You're going to the CFP, and with that defense -- and the possibility John Mateer could get back to form -- nobody wants to face you.
There are mixed feelings among the Georgia faithful and maybe even the players and coaches: Should they be happy to be in the SEC championship? But here is one take: It puts Georgia more in control of its Playoff fate.
If it stayed at home, the Bulldogs may well have fallen out of a bye: Ohio State, Indiana, the SEC champion and Texas Tech if it wins the Big 12 championship. But by being in the SEC championship, Georgia gets a chance to win and perhaps go all the way up to No. 2, which would put it on the other side of the bracket from Ohio State. And while the Bulldogs could slip with a loss, the committee may also choose not to penalize them for playing the extra game.
Also, Georgia's offense looked out of sync against Georgia Tech, and it would be good to work some of those kinks out in a game that won't affect its playoff spot.
One road loss should not, and may not, ruin all the credibility and momentum from the rest of the regular season. And the Aggies are still going to the CFP, probably a home game, maybe even a bye. And yet losing again to the arch-rival, missing the SEC championship, more people examining the resume and saying "Other than Notre Dame ..."
The tale of the scorpion and the frog may be told in a few years. Actually, a few are telling it now. And a few more are wondering if Kiffin, who has never so much as coached a Power Conference championship game, is worth all this. This is all fair.
Counterpoint: LSU got its guy. It reminded everyone that it is LSU. And while the program and its coach may now be hated across college football. But the LSU fan base itself is ecstatic.
At first, we were going to shove the Rebels way down these rankings. But the way this played out could go either way. Pete Golding getting the job right away, the school standing up to Kiffin, a possible rallying effect. Maybe this will be a Steve Fisher-type situation.
Or maybe it will all fall apart. In a pretty much unprecedented situation, no one can know for sure.
The vibes: Somewhat happy, somewhat nervous. A loss in the SEC championship leaves the Crimson Tide vulnerable. And while Alabama has owned Georgia since 2009, it has never beaten the Dawgs twice in one season: The one rematch was the one time it went Georgia's way.
Eli Drinkwitz is staying. Finishing with a win is gravy. Whether Drinkwitz had legitimate interest in other jobs, whatever, Mizzou needed to hold onto him, it did, and the vibes heading into 2026 should be good.
In their hearts, Longhorn fans are ecstatic about beating the Aggies again, still being alive in the CFP race, and at minimum showing there's hope going forward with Arch Manning.
In their heads, the same fans have to wonder why they couldn't do that in more games. Like against Florida.
Whew. That's the proper reaction on The Plains: Whew. Promoting D.J. Durkin would have incurred an offseason -- and more -- of stories the program doesn't need right now. But hiring Alex Golesh, who is an offensive coach, at least gives the program a chance to keep Durkin and plug in Golesh to fix the offense. It's not Kiffin, it's not even Sumrall. But it's an offensive coach with SEC experience who doesn't have a sordid backstory. It just may work.
Oof. The position here all year has been that Josh Heupel was playing with house money this year, after the Nico Iamaleava drama. And 8-4 in a season that could've easily been 9-3 is still good. But getting boat-raced at home by Vanderbilt, even if it's a very different Vanderbilt, is still a tough look.
The position here, when Billy Napier was fired, was Florida needed to stop messing around and hire a sure thing, such as Kiffin or Drinkwitz. Well, the Gators ended up with Jon Sumrall, another Group of 5 coach. And the fan base does not seem happy.
But in defense of athletic director Scott Stricklin, he didn't know LSU would also open. And Florida being beat out by LSU for Kiffin is a reflection of Florida's brand suffering from years of mediocrity due to failed hires. Thus Stricklin needed to get the best guy he could. We don't know if Drinkwitz didn't want it or what happened there. We also don't know if Sumrall will end up the best guy. But Stricklin's choices became limited, and he couldn't avoid a G5 coach just because the last one failed.
Jeff Lebby's team improved by three wins in Year 2 and watched its arch-rival lose its coach. Still, it lost to that same team, which is still headed to the CFP while the Bulldogs aren't even going to a bowl. The vibes are slightly better than this time last year, but that's not saying too much.
Kentucky finally cut the cord, which is a hopeful sign for the program. The administration cared enough to pay the buyout, but finessed it enough that Mark Stoops agreed to spread the $38 million out over time.
Now comes the hard part: Finding a coach now after the five other SEC jobs already went through the cycle. Still, making the move ups the vibes a few spots from the basement spot we had it prior to Sunday night.
Shane Beamer enters a critical offseason. He needs to get the offensive coordinator hire right. LaNorris Sellers, if he returns to college, needs to do so in a Gamecock uniform. Ditto for junior WR Nyck Harbor. And some impact transfers would be ideal.
Beamer earned credibility with his first four years. But clearly he goes into 2026 needing some good things to happen.
Maybe Ryan Silverfield turns out to be the right hire. To repeat the theme here: Who knows? But excitement-wise, the Hogs didn't strike gold. (Get it? Eh, sorry.) Silverfield was 27-21 in his conference, and as the man who succeeded Mike Norvell wasn't even the one who built Memphis back. And while Silverfield is from the South -- he grew up in Jacksonville -- this is his first SEC job, period. So ... yeah.