Week 2 didn’t look like it was going to provide much drama. But this is college football, so of course it didn’t disappoint.
Billy Napier is back on the hot seat at Florida. Mississippi State stunned Arizona State in Starkville. The Border War was everything Mizzou fans could’ve dreamed of. Ole Miss shook off its Kentucky problem.
There was plenty to react to from a busy weekend of SEC football, and there were some massive shakeups in my weekly power rankings.
Let’s dive right in, shall we?
16. Kentucky (1-1 overall, 0-1 in SEC)
- Previous ranking: 16
- This week: 30-23 L to No. 20 Ole Miss
- Next week: vs. Eastern Michigan
Again, Kentucky managed to hang tough against Ole Miss. The Wildcats even took a double-digit lead in this one, managing to force Rebel QB Austin Simmons into a pair of interceptions. However, they couldn’t hold onto the lead in the second half. The Wildcats will get a bounce-back win against Eastern Michigan (most likely), but there’s not a ton to like about Mark Stoops‘ squad this year.
15. Arkansas (2-0, 0-0)
- Previous ranking: 14
- This week: 56-14 W over Arkansas State
- Next week: at Ole Miss
The Razorbacks fall back a spot here because I needed to move Mississippi State up a couple of spots following the win over Arizona State (more on that later). Taylen Green continues to impress for Arkansas, but the Hogs haven’t really faced a major test yet. That changes this weekend when they head to Oxford to take on the Rebels to kick off SEC play.
14. Florida (1-1, 0-0)
- Previous ranking: 5
- This week: 18-16 L to USF
- Next week: at LSU
Yeah… that was a disaster for Billy Napier. The defense played fine. When you hold a team to 18 points on your home turf, you should win. This offense is a mess. What happened to the offensive line and rushing attack that were supposed to be strengths even if DJ Lagway took some time to get his feet under him? The Gators are lost right now and it comes at a terrible time, as Florida is about to go from an easy mode schedule to Heisman mode in the coming weeks.
13. Mississippi State (2-0, 0-0)
- Previous ranking: 15
- This week: 24-20 W over No. 12 Arizona State
- Next week: vs. Alcorn State
With a win over Alcorn State this weekend, Mississippi State will eclipse its win total from 2025. The win over Arizona State was electric. The Sun Devils weren’t ready for Starkville. Credit to Jeff Lebby for making this Bulldogs squad a tough one to play in Year 2.
12. Alabama (1-1, 0-0)
- Previous ranking: 12
- This week: 73-0 W over Louisiana-Monroe
- Next week: vs. Wisconsin
It was good to see Alabama show some fight in this one and take care of business, but really, how impressed are we supposed to be with a win over Louisiana-Monroe? Beating Wisconsin at home this weekend will be a little bit more impressive, but I’m not willing to make any overarching statements about the Crimson Tide until SEC play begins.
11. Auburn (2-0, 0-0)
- Previous ranking: 11
- This week: 42-3 W over Ball State
- Next week: vs. South Alabama
It was a nice home win for Auburn, but Ball State might be the worst team at the FBS level this year. Seriously, the Cardinals are terrible. However, at this point in the year, it’s all about building confidence for the Tigers, and they did just that on Saturday.
10. South Carolina (2-0, 0-0)
- Previous ranking: 7
- This week: 38-10 W over South Carolina State
- Next week: vs. Vanderbilt
If Vicari Swain wasn’t the best punt returner to ever live, we might be having a very different conversation about the South Carolina Gamecocks this week. Mike Shula was a questionable hire this offseason and he hasn’t done anything to ease fans’ discomfort. This offense is putrid, even with a Heisman candidate at QB in LaNorris Sellers. The Gamecocks are at real risk of losing to Vanderbilt to start SEC play this weekend.
9. Vanderbilt (2-0, 0-0)
- Previous ranking: 13
- This week: 44-20 W at Virginia Tech
- Next week: at South Carolina
What a dominant second-half showing for Diego Pavia and the Vanderbilt Commodores. I’m bumping them up a bit here for going on the road and beating a Power 4 foe. Now they catch South Carolina at a very interesting time, as the Gamecocks’ offense has been atrocious to start the season. Things could get very interesting in Columbia, South Carolina, this weekend.
8. Texas A&M (2-0, 0-0)
- Previous ranking: 6
- This week: 44-22 W over Utah State
- Next week: at Notre Dame
The Texas A&M Aggies keep taking care of business, but they’ve gotten off to slow starts in both games thus far. Letting teams like UTSA and Utah State hang around for a while isn’t a good sign. If the Aggies can’t get off to a strong start this week in South Bend, things could get ugly against Notre Dame.
7. Mizzou (2-0, 0-0)
- Previous ranking: 10
- This week: 42-31 W over Kansas
- Next week: vs. Louisiana
Mizzou should have been ranked last week. Mizzou should be higher than No. 25 in this week’s AP Poll. I don’t know what Eli Drinkwitz and the Tigers have done to poll voters, but the disrespect has to stop. The Tigers scored a huge rivalry victory over Kansas in the return of the Border War this week. It was a masterful performance from transfer QB Beau Pribula, transfer RB Ahmad Hardy and transfer WR Kevin Coleman Jr. Drinkwitz knows how to use the portal, y’all.
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6. Oklahoma (2-0, 0-0)
- Previous ranking: 9
- This week: 24-13 W over No. 15 Michigan
- Next week: at Temple
Yes, you read that right — at Temple. The Oklahoma Sooners, fresh off an exciting home win over No. 15 Michigan in front of a College GameDay crowd, now head to Philadelphia for some reason to take on a horrible Owls squad. Chalk this one up as one of the weirdest SEC games of the year. At least Temple fans will get to see Heisman Trophy contender John Mateer in action.
5. Ole Miss (2-0, 1-0)
- Previous ranking: 4
- This week: 30-23 W at Kentucky
- Next week: vs. Arkansas
The Rebels officially sit atop the SEC standings as we enter Week 3, due to the fact that Ole Miss has the only SEC victory thus far. It wasn’t pretty in Lexington, but games in Lexington rarely are, especially for Lane Kiffin and Ole Miss. The good news? Kewan Lacy is the real deal at running back. The bad news? Austin Simmons still has a long way to go to be the quarterback most folks think he can be.
4. Tennessee (2-0, 0-0)
- Previous ranking: 8
- This week: 72-12 W over ETSU
- Next week: vs. Georgia
I apologize to Tennessee fans. I was a bit slow to come around on the Vols. Josh Heupel has another elite rushing attack and defense. Joey Aguilar looks like he can at least be a play maker for this offense and do things that Nico Iamaleava couldn’t. This will be a tough weekend for the Vols, as rival Georgia comes to town. But don’t be surprised if this game is one that can go either way in the 4th quarter.
3. Texas (1-1, 0-0)
- Previous ranking: 3
- This week: 38-7 W over San Jose State
- Next week: vs. UTEP
We can debate all we want about how good Arch Manning is, but the fact of the matter is that Texas has a great defense and a strong rushing attack. Manning at least showed that he can make plays wit his arm this week against an overmatched SJSU squad. He needs to develop some more consistency, sure, but he has a couple more easier tests he can ace before SEC play starts.
2. Georgia (2-0, 0-0)
- Previous ranking: 2
- This week: 28-6 W over Austin Peay
- Next week: at Tennessee
With the kickoff time moved and the game being delayed at halftime due to weather, it’s tough to take too much away from this performance. Georgia survived and advanced, which is all you can do when circumstances like that present themselves. Now, though, the real tests begin. Kirby Smart and company head to Rocky Top for a major rivalry game against Tennessee. We’ll learn a lot about where the Bulldogs stand this year in that one.
1. LSU (2-0, 0-0)
- Previous ranking: 1
- This week: 23-7 W over Louisiana Tech
- Next week: vs. Florida
This was a rather pedestrian effort from the LSU Tigers. It seems as if they maybe weren’t taking this game as seriously as they should have after a big-time road win over Clemson. Still, the result was never in doubt. Now Brian Kelly and company are 2-0 and catch a reeling Florida squad at a good time. Going 3-0 would be huge for LSU in its push for the Playoff.
Adam is a daily fantasy sports (DFS) and sports betting expert. A 2012 graduate of the University of Missouri, Adam now covers all 16 SEC football teams. He is the director of DFS, evergreen and newsletter content across all Saturday Football brands.
