SEC Power Rankings: Who should be No. 1?

Gary Cosby-USA TODAY Network via Imagn Images

It was an absolutely historic day in the SEC this past Saturday. For the first time all 16 teams played in eight conference games on the same day. That included three games featuring top-25 versus top-25 teams. There was plenty of movement in this week’s rankings, but one question stands above the rest: who deserves the top spot? Let’s break it down.

The Sad Six

16. Kentucky
15. South Carolina
14. Auburn
13. Mississippi State
12. Florida
11. Arkansas

The Top Ten

  1. Texas

The Longhorns escaped Lexington with a win, but their 179 yards on offense was embarrassingly bad and the lowest offensive output in a win in the last 30 years.

  1. LSU

The Tigers got gashed all afternoon by Vanderbilt, giving up 239 yards rushing. The offense looked better at times, but LSU is out of mulligans if they want to make the College Football Playoff. That’s a nightmare considering Texas A&M, Oklahoma and Alabama are still on the schedule.

  1. Oklahoma

Oklahoma’s offense is not very good. They struggled to consistently move the ball against South Carolina at times, but did get the run game on track. The defense is good enough to keep them in the playoff hunt the rest of the season.

  1. Tennessee

For most of the year, Tennessee fans have maintained that they’re an elite team because they barely lost to Georgia. They’re not wrong, but the defense is a liability, and their self-inflicted wounds caught up to them once again. However, there’s still a chance to get to the playoff with their schedule.

  1. Missouri

It was a gutsy win out of Missouri in their first road game of the season. Jordan-Hare at night is not an easy place to win, but Missouri didn’t help themselves much either. The run game has disappeared over the past two weeks, and Beau Pribula has regressed mightily with six interceptions in four SEC games, including four in the last two.

  1. Ole Miss

Ole Miss should still feel very good about their team, despite Saturday’s loss to Georgia. That doesn’t make the loss any less heartbreaking.

The Rebels scored on their first five possessions, the first team to do so against Georgia since Kirby Smart was hired in 2016. They were ultimately shut out in the fourth quarter and left Athens with their first loss of the season.

Trinidad Chambliss continued to impress, but the defense allowed over 500 yards of offense and let Georgia hold the ball for 80 plays and over 37 minutes. The Rebels still have an elite offense and legit chance of making the College Football Playoff win or lose against Oklahoma next week.

Their November schedule features one team with a winning record and the Citadel. The question mark is the defense, which ranks No. 13 in the SEC in yards allowed per game, ten spots lower than where they finished up a season ago.

  1. Vanderbilt

Vanderbilt earned its signature win of the season Saturday against LSU, doing exactly what it’s done better than most SEC teams over the past year and a half.

What do good teams do? Control the clock, run the ball, don’t turn the ball over, stay ahead of the chains and refuse to hurt themselves with self inflicted wounds. That’s Vanderbilt football in a nutshell.

What I’m about to say isn’t just a prisoner of the moment hot take – it’s real. If Vanderbilt beats Missouri on Saturday, they will most likely be in the College Football Playoff.

  1. Georgia

The defense is a problem. You cannot win a championship by giving up this many points and allowing offenses like Tennessee and Ole Miss to put up over 35 points against you. But, there’s a good silver lining for Georgia fans – it may not matter if the offense plays like this every week.

The frustration from fans over offensive coordinator Mike Bobo should turn into apologies after his performance against Ole Miss. Gunner Stockton has been awesome at quarterback leading the Bulldogs in rushing touchdowns with six on the season, and on Saturday he was the best he’s been all season through the air, completing 84% of his passes and tallying five touchdowns.

The scary part for everyone else on Georgia’s schedule is that not only have they not played a complete game yet this season, they haven’t even come close.

  1. Texas A&M

There’s a very valid case to be made for Texas A&M to be No. 1 on this list. They are, after all, the only undefeated team in the conference at 7-0. But, giving up 42 points against Arkansas is a concern especially since it’s the second time it’s happened this season and both times just so happened to be in their only two road games.

Marcel Reed has been awesome all season, but Saturday against the Hogs he played arguably his best game of the season. He finished with 335 yards of offense and four touchdowns. Most importantly, and impressively, he finished 23-of-32 for a completion percentage of 71.9. That was his best mark in any game he’s had for the Aggies in three years.

If he plays like that, it may not matter how many points they scored.

  1. Alabama

Alabama is playing as good or better than anyone else in the conference, for one. The Crimson Tide rank in the top five of the SEC in scoring defense, total defense and passing defense. The offense is being led by Ty Simpson, who has the second best odds to win the Heisman Trophy. They also rank third nationally and first in the conference in turnover margin with a +9 mark this season.

With Alabama’s 37-20 win against Tennessee, not only did they hold the nation’s leading scoring team to 28 points less than their season average, they also beat yet another ranked opponent. The win capped off their fourth straight win in four straight weeks against top-25 SEC teams. If that sounds impressive, it is.

They’re the only team in SEC history to accomplish the feat.

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