For the last couple of weeks, I noted that the SEC East was inching its way back towards respectability. In 2009, the West went 12-7 against the East; in 2010, the dominance was much more pronounced, with the West going 16-3, and Ole Miss being responsible for two of the three losses. Last year, the SEC West went 13-6 against the East, with Ole Miss and MSU being responsible for five of the losses. In all three years, the West was the clear dominant division: any uncertainly was eliminated in the SEC Championship Game, as the West won the three games by a combined 130-40.

But with Florida’s victory over LSU this weekend, the plate tectonics in the Southeastern Conference appear to have shifted. The Gators also beat Texas A&M, leaving the East Division 2-1 so far this season against the mighty West, with Mississippi State’s win over Kentucky being the West’s first interdivision win of 2012. But more importantly, according to the SRS, three of the best five teams in the conference reside in the East, along with two of the three highest ranked teams in all the polls. The two worst teams have been Auburn and Arkansas, both West members. Alabama may be the class of the conference, but we may not find out much more until the SEC Championship Game. In 2012, the Crimson Tide only face Tennessee and Missouri from the East, which may make it difficult to judge the conference’s elite until December. Florida already won both of its two interdivision games, leaving South Carolina’s trip to LSU being perhaps the last referendum on the top of the two divisions until the championship game (USC’s other East opponent is Arkansas).

Anyway, here are the SRS Ratings after six weeks. As always, thanks to Dr. Peter Wolfe.

Here’s a look at the Week 6 game-by game results, sorted by SRS rating:

Rk	Tm	PF	Opp	PA	H/R	W/L	Diff	MOV	CON	CON	SOS	SRS
1	South Carolina	35	Georgia	7	1	1	28	24.5	SEC	SEC	56.4	80.9
2	Oklahoma	41	Texas Tech	20	0	1	21	24	B12	B12	55.2	79.2
3	Michigan	44	Purdue	13	0	1	31	29	B10	B10	46.1	75.1
4	Notre Dame	41	Miami FL	3	0.5	1	38	31	IND	ACC	39.5	70.5
5	Oregon	52	Washington	21	1	1	31	26	P12	P12	42.4	68.4
6	West Virginia	48	Texas	45	0	1	3	7	B12	B12	61.1	68.1
7	California	43	UCLA	17	1	1	26	23	P12	P12	42.6	65.6
8	Ohio State	63	Nebraska	38	1	1	25	22	B10	B10	42.2	64.2
9	Florida	14	LSU	6	1	1	8	7	SEC	SEC	52.3	59.3
10	Iowa St	37	TCU	23	0	1	14	17	B12	B12	41.6	58.6
11	Kansas St	56	Kansas	16	1	1	40	30.5	B12	B12	28	58.5
12	Arkansas	24	Auburn	7	0	1	17	20	SEC	SEC	36.5	56.5
13	Louisiana-Monroe	31	Middle Tennessee St	17	0	1	14	17	Sun	Sun	38.4	55.4
14	Vanderbilt	19	Missouri	15	0	1	4	7	SEC	SEC	47	54
15	Mississippi St	27	Kentucky	14	0	1	13	16	SEC	SEC	37.6	53.6
16	Texas A&M	30	Mississippi	27	0	1	3	7	SEC	SEC	46.6	53.6
17	Cincinnati	52	Miami OH	14	1	1	38	29.5	BgE	MAC	23.7	53.2
18	Mississippi	27	Texas A&M	30	1	0	-3	-7	SEC	SEC	60.2	53.2
19	LSU	6	Florida	14	0	0	-8	-7	SEC	SEC	59.3	52.3
20	Stanford	54	Arizona	48	1	1	6	7	P12	P12	45.3	52.3
21	Texas	45	West Virginia	48	1	0	-3	-7	B12	B12	59.2	52.2
22	Central Florida	40	East Carolina	20	1	1	20	17	CUS	CUS	34.9	51.9
23	North Carolina St	17	Florida St	16	1	1	1	0	ACC	ACC	51.7	51.7
24	Southern Cal	38	Utah	28	0	1	10	13	P12	P12	38.2	51.2
25	Duke	42	Virginia	17	1	1	25	22	ACC	ACC	29	51
26	Penn State	39	Northwestern	28	1	1	11	8	B10	B10	42.8	50.8
27	SMU	17	UTEP	0	0	1	17	20	CUS	CUS	29.4	49.4
28	Fresno St	28	Colorado St	7	0	1	21	24	MWC	MWC	25.1	49.1
29	Boise St	40	Southern Miss	14	0	1	26	26.5	MWC	CUS	22.3	48.8
30	Louisiana Tech	58	UNLV	31	1	1	27	24	WAC	MWC	24.6	48.6
31	Clemson	47	Georgia Tech	31	1	1	16	13	ACC	ACC	35.5	48.5
32	Northern Illinois	35	Ball St	23	0	1	12	15	MAC	MAC	33	48
33	Rutgers	19	Connecticut	3	1	1	16	13	BgE	BgE	35	48
34	San Diego St	52	Hawai`i	14	1	1	38	29.5	MWC	MWC	18.4	47.9
35	Houston	44	North Texas	21	1	1	23	20	CUS	Sun	27.3	47.3
36	North Carolina	48	Virginia Tech	34	1	1	14	11	ACC	ACC	35.5	46.5
37	New Mexico	35	Texas St-San Marcos	14	1	1	21	18	MWC	WAC	28	46
38	Utah St	3	Brigham Young	6	0	0	-3	0	WAC	IND	45.4	45.4
39	Arizona	48	Stanford	54	0	0	-6	-7	P12	P12	52.1	45.1
40	Kent St	41	Eastern Michigan	14	0	1	27	27	MAC	MAC	18.1	45.1
41	Brigham Young	6	Utah St	3	1	1	3	0	IND	WAC	43.9	43.9
42	Tulsa	45	Marshall	38	0	1	7	10	CUS	CUS	33.7	43.7
43	Temple	37	South Florida	28	1	1	9	7	BgE	BgE	35.3	42.3
44	Michigan St	31	Indiana	27	0	1	4	7	B10	B10	35	42
45	Western Michigan	52	Massachusetts	14	1	1	38	29.5	MAC	MAC	12.3	41.8
46	Wisconsin	31	Illinois	14	1	1	17	14	B10	B10	27.2	41.2
47	Louisiana-Lafayette	41	Tulane	13	1	1	28	24.5	Sun	CUS	16.7	41.2
48	Florida St	16	North Carolina St	17	0	0	-1	0	ACC	ACC	41	41
49	Navy	28	Air Force	21	0	1	7	10	IND	MWC	30.8	40.8
50	Georgia	7	South Carolina	35	0	0	-28	-24.5	SEC	SEC	65.2	40.7
51	Arkansas St	34	Florida Int'l	20	0	1	14	17	Sun	Sun	23.5	40.5
52	Nevada	35	Wyoming	28	1	1	7	7	MWC	MWC	33.4	40.4
53	Oregon St	19	Washington St	6	1	1	13	10	P12	P12	29.6	39.6
54	Bowling Green	24	Akron	10	0	1	14	17	MAC	MAC	22.3	39.3
55	Indiana	27	Michigan St	31	1	0	-4	-7	B10	B10	44.5	37.5
56	Utah	28	Southern Cal	38	1	0	-10	-13	P12	P12	50	37
57	Washington St	6	Oregon St	19	0	0	-13	-10	P12	P12	46.5	36.5
58	Virginia Tech	34	North Carolina	48	0	0	-14	-11	ACC	ACC	46.9	35.9
59	Toledo	50	Central Michigan	35	1	1	15	12	MAC	MAC	23.7	35.7
60	Northwestern	28	Penn State	39	0	0	-11	-8	B10	B10	43.5	35.5
61	Marshall	38	Tulsa	45	1	0	-7	-10	CUS	CUS	45.5	35.5
62	Missouri	15	Vanderbilt	19	1	0	-4	-7	SEC	SEC	42.5	35.5
63	Georgia Tech	31	Clemson	47	0	0	-16	-13	ACC	ACC	48.2	35.2
64	Ohio U.	38	Buffalo	31	1	1	7	7	MAC	MAC	28.1	35.1
65	Wyoming	28	Nevada	35	0	0	-7	-7	MWC	MWC	41.5	34.5
66	Pittsburgh	13	Syracuse	14	0	0	-1	0	BgE	BgE	33.9	33.9
67	Maryland	19	Wake Forest	14	1	1	5	7	ACC	ACC	26.9	33.9
68	Texas Tech	20	Oklahoma	41	1	0	-21	-24	B12	B12	57.8	33.8
69	Washington	21	Oregon	52	0	0	-31	-26	P12	P12	59.6	33.6
70	TCU	23	Iowa St	37	1	0	-14	-17	B12	B12	50.3	33.3
71	Nebraska	38	Ohio State	63	0	0	-25	-22	B10	B10	54.8	32.8
72	Army	34	Boston College	31	1	1	3	0	IND	ACC	32.2	32.2
73	Syracuse	14	Pittsburgh	13	1	1	1	0	BgE	BgE	31.6	31.6
74	South Florida	28	Temple	37	0	0	-9	-7	BgE	BgE	38.5	31.5
75	Buffalo	31	Ohio U.	38	0	0	-7	-7	MAC	MAC	38.3	31.3
76	Middle Tennessee St	17	Louisiana-Monroe	31	1	0	-14	-17	Sun	Sun	48.2	31.2
77	Connecticut	3	Rutgers	19	0	0	-16	-13	BgE	BgE	43.4	30.4
78	Kentucky	14	Mississippi St	27	1	0	-13	-16	SEC	SEC	45.9	29.9
79	Wake Forest	14	Maryland	19	0	0	-5	-7	ACC	ACC	36.7	29.7
80	Miami FL	3	Notre Dame	41	0.5	0	-38	-31	ACC	IND	60.4	29.4
81	Memphis	14	Rice	10	1	1	4	7	CUS	CUS	21.4	28.4
82	East Carolina	20	Central Florida	40	0	0	-20	-17	CUS	CUS	44.8	27.8
83	Illinois	14	Wisconsin	31	0	0	-17	-14	B10	B10	41.5	27.5
84	Central Michigan	35	Toledo	50	0	0	-15	-12	MAC	MAC	39	27
85	Kansas	16	Kansas St	56	0	0	-40	-30.5	B12	B12	56.3	25.8
86	Ball St	23	Northern Illinois	35	1	0	-12	-15	MAC	MAC	40.2	25.2
87	Idaho	26	New Mexico St	18	1	1	8	7	WAC	WAC	17	24
88	Colorado St	7	Fresno St	28	1	0	-21	-24	MWC	MWC	47.8	23.8
89	Purdue	13	Michigan	44	1	0	-31	-29	B10	B10	51.3	22.3
90	Air Force	21	Navy	28	1	0	-7	-10	MWC	IND	30.8	20.8
91	UCLA	17	California	43	0	0	-26	-23	P12	P12	43.5	20.5
92	UNLV	31	Louisiana Tech	58	0	0	-27	-24	MWC	WAC	43.7	19.7
93	Boston College	31	Army	34	0	0	-3	0	ACC	IND	19.6	19.6
94	UTEP	0	SMU	17	1	0	-17	-20	CUS	CUS	38.5	18.5
95	Southern Miss	14	Boise St	40	1	0	-26	-26.5	CUS	MWC	44.2	17.7
96	Virginia	17	Duke	42	0	0	-25	-22	ACC	ACC	39.2	17.2
97	Auburn	7	Arkansas	24	1	0	-17	-20	SEC	SEC	36.8	16.8
98	Texas St-San Marcos	14	New Mexico	35	0	0	-21	-18	WAC	MWC	34.8	16.8
99	Tulane	13	Louisiana-Lafayette	41	0	0	-28	-24.5	CUS	Sun	40.2	15.7
100	Miami OH	14	Cincinnati	52	0	0	-38	-29.5	MAC	BgE	43.8	14.3
101	Rice	10	Memphis	14	0	0	-4	-7	CUS	CUS	21.1	14.1
102	Florida Int'l	20	Arkansas St	34	1	0	-14	-17	Sun	Sun	30.7	13.7
103	Akron	10	Bowling Green	24	1	0	-14	-17	MAC	MAC	30.6	13.6
104	New Mexico St	18	Idaho	26	0	0	-8	-7	WAC	WAC	18.2	11.2
105	Hawai`i	14	San Diego St	52	0	0	-38	-29.5	MWC	MWC	40	10.5
106	North Texas	21	Houston	44	0	0	-23	-20	Sun	CUS	29.6	9.6
107	Eastern Michigan	14	Kent St	41	1	0	-27	-27	MAC	MAC	36.4	9.4
108	Massachusetts	14	Western Michigan	52	0	0	-38	-29.5	MAC	MAC	32.5	3

Quick thoughts….

• South Carolina’s blowout win over Georgia replaced Oregon’s 49-0 win against Arizona as the top performance of the season.
• Purdue had looked like a potential sleeper team in September, but Michigan crushed any Boilmaker dreams on Saturday. Perhaps more importantly, for SRS purposes, this finally makes Alabama’s blowout over Michigan look impressive, as the Wolverines jumped up to 19 after ranking 40th last week.
• Notre Dame, Oregon and West Virginia continue to impress each week. All of those teams have their detractors, but it’s getting harder and harder to bet against any of them in 2012.
• Ohio State separated itself as the class of the B1G with a dominant victory over Nebraska. At 6-0, the Buckeyes would be a legitimate national championship contender if, you know, they were eligible for that sort of thing. As we all know, watch out for them next year, and a pre-season top-three ranking is likely if Ohio State can maintain this level of play.
• The worst performance by a BCS school this week goes to Auburn, who somehow lost by 17 at home to Arkansas. The best performance by a non-BCS school again comes from Louisiana-Monroe, who has jumped into the top 25 of the SRS standings.