College Football: The SEC's Wild, Wild West And It's Effect on the BCS

As of Sunday morning, seven SEC teams are in the Top 25 of the Associated Press Poll (AP). Four of those seven teams are from the western division of the SEC—three of them are in the Top 10.

The SEC West became very interesting after the Alabama Crimson Tide got rolled up in Columbia, by the South Carolina Gamecocks, over the weekend.
No. 7 Auburn, the team that few gave a chance, rallied to defeat the Kentucky Wildcats on Saturday.

That made their record 6-0 coming into this weekend's match-up with No. 12 Arkansas, down on 'The Plains'.

Arkansas will come in with "upset" on their mind as they try to get back into the Top 10 at the expense of their division rival.

Auburn, Alabama, Arkansas, and LSU are all in a position to win the division, and represent the western half of the conference in the SEC Championship Game in December.

As things stand right now, Arkansas would need a little help because they lost to the Tide, but none of the other teams (Auburn, Alabama, or LSU) have played each other yet, so there is still plenty of SEC Championship hope for the Razorbacks.

Even more, after Alabama's loss to South Carolina, the BCS will be looking for a new SEC team to hitch it's wagon to, and the story of the "Cardiac Cats" (Auburn) or "Lucky Les" (LSU) seems fitting in this year of anything can happen in college football.

Who has the best chance to come out on top?

At this stage, Auburn's schedule sets up the most favorably. They face Arkansas, LSU, and Georgia at home in the coming weeks, and will have a bye prior to taking on Alabama in the Iron Bowl on November 27th.

Alabama still has a chance to get back on track as well, however, after all, the loss they suffered was not within their division and , if they can reshuffle the deck a bit, they have just as much a shot as any one in the west to come out on top.

LSU seems to be playing with fire, but the replacement of Jordan Jefferson for Jarrett Lee may prove to be the best decision Les Miles has made this season. Jefferson was reeling and his poor play was becoming a drain on what little offense his team could muster.

Add to that, Miles seems to be back to his old 2007 tricks—calling plays like a Maverick and getting all the lucky bounces he can possibly hope for on the football field.

As for Bobby Petrino's crew, Ryan Mallett may be the catalyst for that offense, but the team will win or lose with Mallett's poise—or lack thereof. If the senior quarterback can maintain his focus, Arkansas can still be the surprise team that many picked them to be at the start of the season. The game against Auburn could be the start of something big or the end of a dream.

The SEC West has become a wild place to be this season. What team will be the last one standing when the smoke finally clears?...