Uncle Mo is kicking off Rivalry Week in the SEC with another edition of his momentum rankings following a modest slate of games in Week 13. He watched all the games, read all the polls and did all his homework to come up with this week’s rankings, and he feels pretty good about them.

Remember, these are not power rankings, they’re momentum rankings. There’s a difference. Keep that in mind when reading through the list.

There’s plenty of shakeup from last week’s rankings, so let’s jump right in:

1. Arkansas: Again, I can’t stress enough that these rankings are based on momentum and not body of work. The Razorbacks may be 2-5 in the SEC and 6-5 overall, but they’ve won back to back SEC games against ranked teams and became the first unranked team in college football history to post consecutive shutouts against ranked foes. How can you argue another team has more momentum than the Hogs entering Week 14? Arkansas is red-hot at the right time, and although it may end up in a modest bowl game this year it’s proving to the rest of the conference that it will be a force to be reckoned with down the line.

2. Alabama: The Crimson Tide has won six straight games since its only loss of the year to Ole Miss, marking the longest active win streak in the conference. It beat former No. 1 and then-unbeaten Mississippi State just two weeks ago, and it’s now one win away from its third SEC West title in the last six years. Alabama is ranked No. 1 in the country for a reason, and this team is playing its best football at the right time of year, as most Nick Saban-coached teams tend to do. Momentum won’t mean quite as much amidst the chaotic atmosphere of the Iron Bowl, but there are few teams in America with more momentum heading into Week 14 than Alabama.

3. Mississippi State: The Bulldogs were given a “get out of jail free” card following their only loss of the year to Alabama, maintaining a highly-coveted spot in the top 4 of the College Football Playoff rankings while receiving a chance to recover from the loss to ‘Bama with last week’s cakewalk against Vanderbilt. The Bulldogs regained plenty of confidence from their top 4 ranking and a 51-0 slaughter of the Commodores, and that alone gives MSU plenty of momentum heading into the weekend. Couple all of that with the Bulldogs’ 4-1 record against Ole Miss since 2009 and you’ve got a team with as much momentum as any team in the conference.

4. Missouri: The Tigers have never been a team known for winning with style, but for two years now they’ve been known as the SEC East’s most consistent winner. Mizzou took down a red-hot Tennessee team in Neyland Stadium last week to pull within one win of another division crown, and the win capped a second straight season without a road loss in SEC play (the Tigers are 8-0 on the road in conference games in that span). Although they’re not blowing anybody out, the Tigers have as much momentum as anyone in the East, and they’ll need all of their momentum to carry them in Friday’s potential division-clincher against an Arkansas team that has even more momentum behind it than Mizzou does.

5. Georgia: The Bulldogs have won three straight games by an average of 35 points per game since their embarrassing loss to Florida, and they’ve scored 50.7 points per game in that span. Georgia may not control its fate in the SEC East, but it is playing as well as any team in the country, giving it plenty of momentum heading into Saturday’s rivalry showdown with Georgia Tech. Whether the Dawgs win or lose has no bearing on whether they will win the division, but a win to continue the momentum they’ve built in recent weeks could be invaluable if Georgia does indeed advance to Atlanta for the SEC championship game.

6. South Carolina: The Gamecocks’ season hasn’t exactly gone according to plan, but they gained some valuable momentum by following their miraculous come-from-behind win over Florida with a 37-12 win over South Alabama last weekend. South Carolina’s defense had one of its best showings of the season against the Jags, recording a season-high three sacks while holding USA out of the end zone for the game, and suddenly the Gamecocks have new life heading into Saturday’s Palmetto Bowl against Clemson. South Carolina has the momentum of five straight wins in this rivalry, and it gained even more momentum during its recent two-game winning streak. The Gamecocks have been a middle-of-the-pack team for much of the season, but they’ve got enough positive momentum that could allow them to end this season on a tear.

7. Florida: I understand it seems strange to find a team that’s already fired its head coach sitting this high in a set of momentum rankings, but Florida’s spot at No. 7 is justified. Here’s why: the Gators have already beaten one top 10 team this year in Georgia, and their opponent this week, No. 3 Florida State, has nearly lost to a number of unranked teams throughout the season (as recently as last week against Boston College). The Gators believe an upset is possible, and that belief, coupled with last week’s 52-3 win over Eastern Kentucky, has given them plenty of momentum heading into a huge rivalry showdown in the Sunshine State. Furthermore, Florida already knows it will be undergoing major changes this offseason, so it really has nothing to lose entering this game. That kind of freedom can carry any team to victory even against the best of opponents, and as a result the Gators will enter Saturday’s contest with more momentum than a lot of other teams throughout the conference.

RELATED: College Football PSA (urgent)

T8. LSU: See below.
T8. Texas A&M: The Tigers and Aggies are both four-loss teams coming off byes last week and facing one another this week on Thanksgiving night to close the regular season. Neither team is poised to reach a significant bowl game and neither team has much momentum built up following a pair of losses to Arkansas and Missouri before the bye week. However, both teams are well-rested and prepared for one final showing this season on a big stage Thursday night. (Thanksgiving is known for its football, is it not?) So while neither team will be riding any positive momentum entering Thursday’s showdown, neither will be held back by any negative momentum either. As a result, both teams find themselves tied with one another right in the middle of this week’s momentum rankings.

10. Tennessee: The Vols had been one of the SEC’s hottest teams entering Week 13, but a ferocious Missouri defense stifled Joshua Dobbs and company to end their brief run of excellence in the SEC East. Mizzou has been a better team than Tennessee for much of the season, so it’s hard to say the loss created any negative momentum within the UT program. However, the loss certainly killed any positive momentum the Volunteers had built up in back to back wins over South Carolina and Kentucky, dropping it to No. 10 in this week’s momentum rankings. Luckily for UT, Dobbs is still an emerging star in the conference, and Tennessee won’t need much momentum to take care of Vanderbilt in Nashville this weekend as it aims to clinch bowl eligibility for the first time since 2010.

11. Auburn: The Tigers are the only team in the bottom half of these momentum rankings that won in Week 13, but they hardly looked impressive in a 31-7 home win over Samford of the FCS (they actually trailed 7-0 for most of the first half before finally getting on the board with 6:50 left in the second quarter). Prior to that victory Auburn lost back to back SEC games for the first time in the Gus Malzahn era. It’s obvious this team has lost its edge to some extent, and it must overcome its recent negative momentum in time for Saturday’s showdown with Alabama in the Iron Bowl.

12. Ole Miss: The bottom has completely fallen out on the Rebels’ season following three straight SEC losses, culminating with an embarrassing 30-0 loss to Arkansas last week. Not only has Ole Miss lost its winning ways, it’s battling injuries on both sides of the ball. Top wideout Laquon Treadwell and starting linebacker Denzel Nkemdiche are both done for the year, while a number of other players continue to play through injuries, including quarterback Bo Wallace and left tackle Laremy Tunsil. Not much has gone right for Ole Miss in recent weeks, and the Rebels are battling as much negative momentum as any team in the conference entering Saturday’s Egg Bowl showdown with Mississippi State.

13. Kentucky: The Wildcats enjoyed a much-needed week off last week, and now must win against Louisville this week to earn bowl eligibility for the first time since 2010. Kentucky began the year 5-1 but followed it with five straight losses to close SEC play (with all five losses coming by double figures). To make matters worse, Kentucky must win on the road this week, something it hasn’t done since Week 1 of 2010. No team has gone from hot to cold more dramatically than Kentucky this season, and the youth-laden Wildcats have a mountain of negative momentum to overcome if they hope to save their season with a win this week.

14. Vanderbilt: The Commodores are back to the bottom of these momentum rankings following Saturday’s 51-0 loss to Mississippi State. The Bulldogs are the better team and were expected to win the game, but it’s not just that Vandy lost — it’s that Vandy lost by 51 points to a conference foe. How are we supposed to take this team seriously when it suffered a worse loss to MSU than UT Martin did two weeks prior? (By the way, UT Martin is an FCS school but it lost to State by a final score of just 45-16.) The Commodores have now lost all seven of their SEC contests by double figures, and could be the only team in the conference with fewer than six wins by this time next week. No team has more momentum carrying it in the wrong direction than Vanderbilt does entering Week 14, and no team in the conference will be more thrilled to reach the end of the regular season than the Commodores.