SEC Power Rankings: Week 1

Lot’s of movement in the bottom 7, not much movement in the top 7. I was surprised when I really got into the statistics of the game how crazy some of the stat lines are. 4 (almost 5) teams in the SEC had under 100 yards rushing.

These are my rankings for the week, and if there are any big differences, maybe it’s just personal bias because I didn’t do them last week.

On to the rankings.

14. Missouri (last week - 10)

Missouri and Missouri State looked like mid-2000s Hawaii vs. mid-2000s Texas Tech. No running game, no defense, just AIRRRRR RAAAAAAIIIDDDD!

13. Kentucky (last week - 9)

Southern Mississippi is a lot better than they were a few seasons ago when they went 0-12, but Kentucky only scored Touchdowns on a short field drive and a fumble recovery. Yikes!

12. Vanderbilt (last week - 14)

Vanderbilt was very solid over the Blue Raiders from Murfreesboro.

11. Mississippi State (last week - 11)

The Bulldogs were basically playing against those remote tackle dummies and still only went 6-15 on first down and had 7 penalties (for comparison, Arkansas was 7-10 and 2 penalties). Just not moving the needle yet.

10. Ole Miss (last week - 12)

Ole Miss didn’t beat the spread this week, but they have a really strong aerial attack, and I would still bet on them in a lot of shootouts.

9. Texas A&M (last week - 8)

Texas A&M’s Rank if Football Games were only 40 minutes long: 4-5
Man did they make me feel just a little bit better about the massive collapses Arkansas had in 2016.

8. South Carolina (last week - 13)

NC State was a good ACC team last season that took National Champion Clemson to Overtime. I’ll admit that giving up over 400 yards in the air made me wonder if I was crazy for putting them this high, but getting big plays like stops and turnover on defense and kick off returns on special teams are what you need to win games like this some times. Probably the best win of Week 1 outside of Alabama and Tennessee.

7. Arkansas (last week - 7)

The run game and defense seemed to improve enough that the minor step back in the passing attack we saw in Week 1 is forgiven to keep Arkansas at #7. It should be noted that David Williams had around 10% of Razorback Rushing yards this week with 23, and the whole South Carolina team had only 31 yards on the ground.

6. Tennessee (last week - 6)

Tennessee won an overtime game in their 1st week a season ago and used a hail mary to beat Georgia in a later game. This season they are into a double OT win in week 1 and continuing to fill my Facebook feed with numerous Tennesseans and their Heart Attack Vols. That being said, I probably couldn’t stop the triple option given all off-season to prepare for it either.

5. Florida (last week - 5)

The Gators were ahead at half time and then got torched in the 2nd half with 10 players suspended. They are still going to be a team that is very tough to score on with a very stout defense. If they work out even a lick of offense, then they could easily win the East.

4. Georgia (last week - 4)

Georgia’s win over Appalachian State isn’t very memorable, but then you don’t really want to remember App State. Just ask Michigan. A big game against Notre Dame is schedule for this weekend, and the Bulldogs will be relying on true freshman Fromm to take the reins over from Eason who was injured in the 1st quarter against Appalachian State.

3. LSU (last week - 3)

LSU easily handled BYU, but BYU’s best win last season was a 2 OT win over 5-7 bowl game playing Mississippi State. While they put up a lot of yards in the middle area of the field, they had issues getting in the endzone.

2. Auburn (last week - 2)

National Rankings put LSU over Auburn, but this rankings list is holding steady. The lone score against Auburn came on a 22 yard fumble return, and despite turning it over 2 more times, they still scored 41 and had nearly 400 yards rushing!

1. Alabama (last week - 1)

Alabama’s week 1 performance looks very very good, but Florida State basically gave the game to Bama on Special teams and turnovers. The Seminoles threw two interceptions, let a punt get blocked, let a field goal get blocked, and lost a fumble on a kickoff return. Bama isn’t scheduled to take on a top 25 team for several weeks, so it might be awhile before they get threatened.