The SEC Power Poll is out, and has consensus on one thing and one thing only: Alabama is No. 1, Florida is No. 1a, and everyone else behind falls into a scrummy muddle without any real clarity:

Aside from near-universal agreement on the top and the bottom, the rest is a series of ambivalences and outright disappointments, with preseason top 10 pick Ole Miss being the biggest one among them. (Wittgenstein once asked a fellow philosopher for one universal truth. Voila: Never, ever bet on Houston Nutt as a favorite.)

The most shocking bit may be the dropoff between the East and West’s top picks and their immediate underlings. Arkansas has been erratic, LSU is punchless on offense, and South Carolina, the second best team in the East, can’t go two series without shooting themselves in the foot offensively. Auburn began 5-0 but is now in the thrall of some kind of market correction, losing first to Arkansas, then last week in embarrassing fashion to Kentucky. Georgia is glorying in a victory over Vandy. VANDY, PEOPLE.

SEC chauvinism will, for the moment, have to wait until bowl season. Top to bottom right now, this is a conference very much in flux in terms of traditional powers if the Power Poll is to be believed.