SEC Power Rankings: Movement in the middle, Texas still on top
One of the best games of the 2020s yielded some movement in Inside Texas’ weekly SEC Power Rankings, but a burnt orange team now 1-0 in its new conference held onto the top spot.
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1. Texas
Texas played a C+ game and turned the ball over multiple times and still won by three scores, allowing just one offensive touchdown. Texas is 5-0 and while AP Poll voters believe Alabama to be No. 1, the coaches in the Coaches Poll gave No. 1 billing to the Longhorns for the first time this year.
2. Alabama (+1)
Kalen DeBoer is good at this whole “coaching football” thing, and wasn’t afraid to pull out all the stops in order to continue the Crimson Tide’s winning ways over the Dawgs. The stops DeBoer can pull out with players like Jalen Milroe, Ryan Williams, and some of the other recruits he held onto and even added after Nick Saban’s departure were key in Alabama’s win.
3. Georgia (-1)
For as lopsided as the first half was (remember all those stops Alabama pulled out?), the second half saw Georgia players and coaches alike play like a top tier team. One too many Carson Beck mistakes cost the Dawgs in Tuscaloosa.
An interesting stretch awaits UGA. They host Auburn and Mississippi State in back-to-back weeks, then travel to Texas on October 19, get their second bye, and go Florida, at Ole Miss, Tennessee. These Dawgs will be tested.
4. Tennessee
The Vols were on bye. Tennessee travels to Arkansas this week.
5. Missouri (+1)
Missouri was also on bye, yet moved up because of the loss by Ole Miss to Kentucky. An old Big 12 battle will prove the Tigers’ mettle this week as Mizzou heads to Texas A&M for an 11 a.m. kick. The Aggies are currently a -1 favorite.
6. Ole Miss (-1)
Ole Miss leads the country in plays of 10 yards or more and is near the top when you start looking at plays that go 20+, 30+, 40+, etc. That’s something that stands out about Lane Kiffin’s offense.
The Rebels had nine different plays of 10 yards or more, a quality figure. The problem is, most of them simply functioned to flip the field. Only one of them scored. When Ole Miss wasn’t running an explosive play, they struggled to run the football against a quality Kentucky front. Five of the 11 Rebel drives ended in punts.
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Here’s the kicker. Ole Miss only had the ball for 20 minutes.
Kentucky did just enough on offense and played the right amount of keep away to prevent Ole Miss from getting to the end zone often. Of course, a 63-yard pass from Brock Vandagriff to Barion Brown to set up the ‘Cats’ go-ahead touchdown flipped the game on its head. A missed field goal ended Ole Miss’ hopes at a win and gave UK one of the more shocking upsets of the season.
7. LSU
The Tigers walloped South Alabama. Garrett Nussmeier is good at throwing the football.
8. Texas A&M
Jerry World has been far, far too kind to the Aggies and a house of horrors for the Razorbacks. Sam Pittman (or whoever is the head coach next year) probably can’t wait to host A&M in Fayetteville.
The Aggie offense will be a work in progress all season, but the A&M defense will be formidable as long as depth holds up. They’ll be tested by Missouri in a week.
9. Oklahoma
The Oklahoma defense is opportunistic, and sooner rather than later, Payton Thorne is going to provide opportunities. A late pick-six thrown by the Auburn signal-caller helped Oklahoma win on the Plains and gave Michael Hawkins a win in his first career start at a packed Jordan-Hare Stadium. Like the Longhorns, Oklahoma is on bye this week ahead of the Red River Shootout.
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10. South Carolina
The Gamecocks were on bye and will have an interesting matchup with a reeling Ole Miss in Columbia on Saturday.
