It hasn’t been a great first two weeks for the premiere conference in college football. Too many Southeastern Conference teams have lost marquee non-conference games, and one of the worst teams just blew out one of the supposed promising teams. Here are our SEC Power Rankings following Week 2 of the 2024 season.
16. Kentucky
Losing to the South Carolina Gamecocks 31-6 undoes everything we thought about the Wildcats after the way they started the season. Given the way Shane Beamer’s team struggled with the Old Dominion Monarchs to start the season, that’s more than enough to push UK to here. They have the worst offensive line maybe in history.
15. Florida
Billy Napier’s team looked a lot better this past weekend…against an FCS program. The Gators blew out the Samford Bulldogs, and while it was just against Samford, they looked even better than their 45-7 win indicated. Still, getting blown out by the Miami Hurricanes at home is going to keep them down here in our SEC Power Rankings.
14. Mississippi State
I still believe in Jeff Lebby and what he’s building with the Mississippi State Bulldogs, but that was a bad loss to the Arizona State Sun Devils last weekend. It’s not that they lost on the road. Trailing 30-3 is what was bad. Sure, they made it respectable late, fighting back to only lose 30-23, but that’s not indicative of what really happened.
13. Auburn
You could make a case that MSU should be ahead of the Tigers in our SEC Power Rankings. Hugh Freeze lost to a worse team in the Cal Golden Bears and lost to them at home by as much. However, Auburn putting up more of a fight early gives them the slight nod. Still, they did enough to fall into the garbage label of the league.
12. South Carolina
Shane Beamer and the Gamecocks are celebrating after dominating Kentucky, and while that does move them up our SEC Power Rankings, it can’t alone outweigh how hideous they looked in their opener. As a result, we’re generous. For right now, they are the best of the garbage tier in the league, but they have a lot more to prove.
11. Vanderbilt
Hey, the Commodores are 2-0 and not in the garbage tier. That win over the Virginia Tech Hokies is carrying the, but they did dominate the Alcorn State Braves in the way that they are supposed to, so Clark Lea is giving this program plenty to be excited about. Maybe they aren’t contenders, but a bowl berth is on the table.
10. Texas A&M
Mike Elko and the Aggies look even worse now losing to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish after that team lost to the Northern Illinois Huskies. They did what they should have done in their 52-10 win over the McNeese State Cowboys, to be fair, but this program still looks like a major work in progress early on.
9. Arkansas
If Sam Pittman was any better at clock management, the Razorbacks would have beaten the Oklahoma State Cowboys. Instead, they lost 39-31 in double overtime despite having 600 yards of total offense and allowing less than 400. Bobby Petrino has a good offense back in Fayetteville, though, so the Hogs could be dangerous.
8. LSU
There’s an argument that they shouldn’t be this high, as the Tigers were struggling with the Nicholls Colonels early on. They did recruit to win 44-21, but Brian Kelly’s team should be even more concerned after this performance. Still, a close loss to the USC Trojans outweighs what Arkansas and A&M did, which puts them here.
7. Oklahoma
Now we are looking at contenders in the running for the College Football Playoff. Only beating a Houston Cougars team 16-12 though, after that team lost to the UNLV Runnin’ Rebels, puts the Sooners at the bottom among those teams in our SEC Power Rankings this week. Concerns about Brent Venables may now be showing.
6. Missouri
Eli Drinkwitz’s Tigers haven’t played anybody yet, but Mizzou has been looking good against the lower-level competition they have been facing. Simply put, they deserve to hold their top 10 ranking for right now in both polls, but they have a lot more to prove down the road. No Power Five wins keeps them here.
5. Alabama
You could make a case that the Crimson Tide should be lower. They were only beating the USF Bulls 14-13 late in the fourth quarter before they finally pulled away to dominate. Jalen Milroe is not a fit for Kalen DeBoer’s offense, and that’s going to reveal itself sooner rather than later, which keeps them here in our SEC Power Rankings.
4. Ole Miss
Similar to Mizzou, the Rebels have cashed in on not playing anybody, but after winning their opener 76-0 and beating the MTSU Blue Raiders 49-3, they may have the most prolific offense in the league. Jaxson Dart is certainly the Heisman frontrunner if you go based on stats, and Lane Kiffin may have pulled off building a contender with transfers.
3. Tennessee
We’re now in the tier of the elite teams, and the Tennessee Vols have made that group. Sure, it was against an ACC foe, but they just beat a top 25 team by over 40 points, and despite being known for offense, they did it with a suffocating defense. This could be the most complete team at UT since the 1990s, and that’s dangerous.
2. Georgia
Kirby Smart’s Bulldogs blowing out the Clemson Tigers still carries more weight than beating the N.C. State Wolfpack like UT did, so UGA deserves to be ahead of UT in our SEC Power Rankings for right now. Talent-wise, they probably are still the best team in the league by far, but this has to be somewhatt resume based, so they dropped a spot.
1. Texas
Despite reservations about Quinn Ewers and Steve Sarkisian, the Longhorns deserve to be No. 1 in the league right now. They just dominated the defending national champions at their home stadium, looking like the significantly better program. Taking that into account, there really shouldn’t be any debate about this.
