Just like that, one Southeastern Conference teams remains. The upset of the century between the Alabama Crimson Tide and Vanderbilt Commodores was part of a series of upsets in the league, as every undefeated team that played this weekend lost on the road, two to unranked teams. See how that affected our SEC Power Rankings here.
16. Mississippi State
Too bad Jeff Lebby’s team wasn’t able to play this weekend. They may have missed a chance to pull off an upset given the way the slate of games went in the league. As it is, though, the remain the worst team in the conference because of their horrific start to the season, but coming off the bye, they may fix it.
15. Auburn
Hugh Freeze and the Tigers continue to make games ugly and then lose. At least they covered against the Georgia Bulldogs. Still, it wasn’t turnovers that cost them here. They weren’t really in the game against a team coming off a tough loss the week before, so they still are near the bottom of the league.
14. Florida
Don’t look now, but the Gators have won two straight, and they are about to face a Tennessee Vols team that they have owned the past 20 years who also lost this past weekend. Billy Napier’s team beat the UCF Knights as underdogs, so he is surviving, but they have to do more to crawl out of the bottom of our SEC Power Rankings.
13. South Carolina
Shane Beamer’s Gamecocks had shown promise for a few weeks now, but coming off a bye, they got blown out by an Ole Miss Rebels team that should have been reeling after a tough loss the week before. Once again, this program showed us what it is under Beamer, and it isn’t pretty.
12. Missouri
We get to the first undefeated team to lose in the league. Eli Drinkwitz’s Tigers were the most fraudulent undefeated team into October in the history of the conference, and it was shown by the way they got blown out against the Texas A&M Aggies. As a result, Mizzou took a huge drop in our SEC Power Rankings.
11. Oklahoma
Not playing is what hurt Brent Venables’ team, as the Sooners’ best win is at an Auburn team that managed to lose again. When you combine that with the two teams that pulled off dramatic upsets, for now, we had no choice but to drop them in our SEC Power Rankings.
10. Vanderbilt
Yes, the Commodores scored a huge win over the Alabama Crimson Tide in the upset of the century, but they still have that loss to the Georgia State Panthers, so we could only move them up to here. Clark Lea’s team is above Mizzou, though, despite losing to them, since it was on the road in overtime.
9. Arkansas
Like Vandy, the Razorbacks scored a huge upset win to get to 4-2, as they beat the Vols. Also like Vandy, the Hogs are two fluke plays away from being undefeated. Still, it’s hard to believe that Sam Pittman’s team can keep this up, as they always find ways to lose when they shouldn’t so they will stay here for now.
8. Ole Miss
Lane Kiffin did a great job helping the Rebels rebound to blow out South Carolina the way they did. Given how Ole Miss was thrown together as a transfer team, they could have easily quit, but they didn’t. Jaxson Dart is still a Heisman candidate, and the CFP hopes are still very much alive for the progtam.
7. Kentucky
Not playing helped the Wildcats, opposite of South Carolina, because it allows Mark Stoops’ team to still live off that huge win over Ole Miss. Because of it, and because it was on the road, they still remain a bit higher in our SEC Power Rankings, but they have more to prove. That South Carolina loss was clearly a fluke, though.
6. Alabama
Yes, they had a bad loss to Vandy, but the Crimson Tide were playing on the road, and we can’t discount their quality win over the Georgia Bulldogs the previous week. Kalen DeBoer’s team just had a flukey setback. They should be fine once they can regroup, even if this loss was awful.
5. Tennessee
Right now, the Vols are ahead of Alabama because their loss wasn’t as bad, but in many was it was more concerning, as it was coming off a bye. Josh Heupel has a lot of issues to work out. Still, a road loss to a good team in the league isn’t enough for us to drop them too much.
4. LSU
Hey, don’t look now, but after now playing for a weekend, the Tigers are a one-loss team as much in the SEC Championship and CFP running as any team in the league. Brian Kelly’s program could easily be undefeated right now, but coming off a bye, watch out for what they can do.
3. Texas A&M
Like LSU, the Aggies lost their opener and have quietly been winning ever since. They have been winning ugly but getting better, and they put it all together against Mizzou, whom they dominated 41-10. That’s enough for us to make them top three in our SEC Power Rankings, and this team has talent.
2. Georgia
Kirby Smart and the Bulldogs are back near the top after beating Auburn while Alabama fell to Vandy after beating them. The Dawgs losing to the Tide on the road is enough for us to bump them back ahead of Bama, and they still haven’t dropped out of that No. 2 spot in the league.
1. Texas
By default, the Longhorns have to top our SEC Power Rankings. We did have Georgia ahead of them last week with a loss, but that was due to the fact that Alabama looked like a better loss then. It doesn’t now, so Steve Sarkisian’s team, its first year in the league, is the team to beat as the only one still undefeated.
