The vibes are good in Athens and bad in Fayetteville — what about the rest of the SEC?

Every coach in the SEC, head or assistant, could wake up this morning with one core piece of comfort. Whatever they were dealing with, they could say to themselves: At least I’m not Mario Cristobal. At least I didn’t make as basic of a coaching error as that guy. 

But this is an SEC column, so let’s talk about Dan Enos.

Oh, and Jimbo Fisher, we’re not letting you off the hook either. But first, Mr. Enos, who has committed the cardinal sin of coaching: clicking the send button.

Enos, for those unaware, is as of press time the offensive coordinator for the Arkansas football team. This is his first year, having come from Maryland — which is not exactly reeling from his departure — and Enos’ offense at Arkansas was struggling so badly through five games that fans were sending emails to Enos, particularly about fourth-down play calling.

The second most surprising thing about this is Enos having an email address that fans could find. The first and most surprising thing is Enos actually replied. He didn’t say anything terrible. But he replied. You can read the details here.

(As of Sunday morning, incidentally, the email addresses of Arkansas’ football coaches are no longer on the school website. It’s not clear if they were missing before all this, but all the other coaches in the athletic department still have addresses up.)

We’ve all had plenty of experience with coaches under fire. During Mike Bobo’s first stint as Georgia’s offensive coordinator, the team lost at Vanderbilt, and during a postgame interview, which was held outside, a Georgia fan could be heard yelling down: “Bobo’s gotta go.” Bobo heard it, we all heard it. But he ignored it. That’s what you’re supposed to do, and it’s part of the business.

Enos’ best answer would have been to go out and, with KJ Jefferson as his quarterback, put up a lot of points against an Ole Miss team that just gave up 49 to LSU. Instead, the Razorbacks scored only 20, and they now rank last in the SEC in yards per play and total yards.

All of this to say, yes, the vibes coming out of Fayetteville are not great.

Meanwhile, Kirby Smart spent part of his press conference quoting Isaac Newton and saying he didn’t know who Miley Cyrus is. Nick Saban showed up to his postgame press conference after his team committed 14 penalties and still won, and asked: “A’ight, what do we want to talk about first, the good news, or the bad news?” And Saban smiled and held the smile.

There’s a reason Georgia is still Georgia, Alabama is still Alabama and everyone else is still everyone else, and it’s not just player talent.

A reminder that this isn’t a pure ranking of how good each team is or how well each has played, rather it is a ranking of the overall feelings around each program. Although, as you’ll notice, the vibes are starting to line up more with the records:

1. Georgia (6-0, 3-0 SEC)

Beat Kentucky, 51-13

So yeah, that’s more like it. The aforementioned Bobo now has the second-ranked offense in the SEC, and his quarterback Carson Beck has the second-most passing yards. There’s still a chance sleepwalking Georgia could return at some point, but at least the team has shown that when it really wants to it can play a complete, dominant game. (And for the record, there’s a good chance Smart does know who Miley Cyrus is, he just blanked for a second. But he definitely didn’t know she’d done a song called “Wrecking Ball,” and for the record neither did I. As a pair of 47-year-old men, Smart and I, apparently, are not in that demographic.)

2. Alabama (5-1, 3-0)

Won at Texas A&M, 26-20

Anyone who buried a Saban-coached team after one bad game, well, you should’ve learned your lesson five or six times before, but oh well, here we are. There’s still some time to go before anointing the Tide championship contenders again. The team commits too many penalties. Jalen Milroe has a few too many bad throws in him every game. Future defenses may choose to cover Jermaine Burton. But the Tide has turned (sorry) in the SEC West, and this squad is clearly the favorite to get back to Atlanta. And maybe beyond.

3. Ole Miss (5-1, 2-1)

Beat Arkansas, 27-20

The Rebels should really, really be mad at themselves for letting Alabama off the hook two weeks ago. Otherwise, they would be unbeaten, everyone would be talking about Lane Kiffin and his dog, and the trip to Georgia on Nov. 11 would be the game of the year. Of course, Ole Miss wasn’t wholly impressive on Saturday, so there’s no guarantee it won’t trip up another time or two down the stretch.

Mizzou threw for 411 yards on LSU’s sieve-like secondary. (Denny Medley / USA Today)

Lost to LSU, 49-39

Well, that was crushing. Thoughts of 8-0 going into Georgia dancing in your head, wondering if you’re this year’s TCU … then you’re not. Ah, but you still have Luther Burden, you’re still going to score a lot of points this year and you still have everyone (other than Vanderbilt) in the division to play. The vibes are somewhat derailed, but still better than a lot of teams in the league — including the team that beat you on your home field Saturday. Doesn’t make sense? That’s just how these rankings work, friends.

5. LSU (4-2, 3-1)

Won at Missouri, 49-39

When you have a great offense and a bad defense, your results are erratic. One week you’re losing because you can’t stop Ole Miss, the next week you rally to win at Missouri because your defense decided to play well at just the right time. It might be like this all season for Brian Kelly’s team. The good news is Jayden Daniels has re-established himself as the best quarterback in the conference, and he would be in Heisman contention if his defense were any good.

Idle

That stinker at The Swamp is still an eyesore, and it hurts not having Bru McCoy the rest of the way. Not to mention that even if the Volunteers beat Texas A&M this week they have to go to Alabama the week after. With Georgia re-engaged, it all adds up to a run at the division title back to being a longshot. In fact with trips to Kentucky and Missouri also on the docket, there’s a chance for a wheels-coming-off scenario.

Still, Josh Heupel’s team is playing with house money after last year. And it’s hard to look at Heupel’s offense and think the wheels will actually come off.

7. Kentucky (5-1, 2-1)

Lost at Georgia, 51-13

We’ve seen this movie before. Kentucky has a great start to the season, we start talking about the Wildcats as a contender, then they suffer a deflating loss, usually against Georgia. So yeah, you could see this coming. It’s not a season-ender, and Kentucky could still easily finish second in the division. But the Wildcats are who we thought they were.

8. Auburn (3-2, 0-2)

Idle

Maybe the bye week came at a bad time for Auburn, which had momentum after playing Georgia so close. Now it goes to LSU, which may have found its footing and has an offense that could score a lot early. If the Bayou Bengals offense pressures Auburn to try to keep up by having Payton Thorne throw the ball, then it might be the same recipe for disaster that was Kentucky’s offense at Georgia.

Beat Vanderbilt, 38-14

Billy Napier has temporarily staved off the baying wolves, but they could come back quickly. Few are banking on an upset of Georgia later this month, but bookending that probable loss with wins at South Carolina and home against Arkansas seems a necessity. Especially with the finishing stretch: road games at LSU and Missouri, then Florida State at home. The path to even a 7-5 record won’t be easy.

Idle

Shane Beamer’s butt isn’t as warm as it could be, his first two seasons having earned him credibility. But a win this week against Florida almost feels essential, because you don’t want to be 2-4 heading into a two-game road trip to Missouri and Texas A&M. Things get easier after that, with a four-game homestand to finish the regular season.

11. Texas A&M (4-2, 2-1)

Lost to Alabama, 26-20

This was the swing game. And the swing happened when Jimbo Fisher, perhaps auditioning for a Big Ten job, punted on fourth-and-1 in plus territory in a tie game. It only took a minute for Alabama to flip the field back. Decision karma, right there. The game was right there, but Fisher deserved to lose.

The wolves aren’t officially back at the door, but the vibes have swung back in the wrong direction.

Beat Western Michigan, 41-28

If the Bulldogs were looking for a complete trouncing that would say this team could still be a factor in the second half of the season, well … this wasn’t that. If they were just looking for a win that was never really in doubt, then they got it.

13. Vanderbilt (2-5, 0-3)

Lost at Florida, 38-14

Hey, some good moments of competitiveness in The Swamp. It’s what you want to see from a team on a losing streak. Of course, the end result was still a blowout and now here comes a revitalized Georgia. Even so, the vibes could be worse.

14. Arkansas (2-4, 0-3)

Lost at Ole Miss, 27-20

Not a bad showing on the road, actually, but it was still a loss. The only positive for the program is Sam Pittman can make Enos his sacrificial firing. That is, if Pittman chooses to, which is not a certainty because Pittman isn’t that kind of guy. But it would be justified, and he may have to do it.

(Top photo: Todd Kirkland / Getty Images)