SEC Power Rankings after Week 3

SEC football is all the way back, y’all.

To quote Arkansas/Kentucky coach John Calipari: “They threw us in the coffin. They just forgot the nails.”

Remember when it was all doom and gloom about the SEC following the Texas loss at Ohio State and Alabama’s loss at Florida State in Week 1? Well, now the SEC is on a heater. The league has still only lost 3 nonconference games this year — those 2 mentioned in the previous sentence and Florida’s loss to USF in Week 2.

Nine of the 16 SEC schools are 3-0. That makes it really tough to do a weekly power rankings column, y’all.

But it has to be done, so without further ado, here’s how all 16 SEC squads stack up this week:

16. Kentucky (2-1 overall, 0-1 in SEC)

• Previous ranking: 16
• Last week: 48-23 W over Eastern Michigan
• This week: OFF

Allowing 23 points to Eastern Michigan is egregious. The defense was supposed to be the strength of the team. The score was 28-16 at halftime against a team that entered Lexington with an 0-2 record. This is a terrible Kentucky squad. Can Mark Stoops right the ship during the first bye week? I have my doubts.

15. Florida (1-2, 0-1)

• Previous ranking: 14
• Last week: 20-10 L at No. 3 LSU
• This week: at Miami

We’re entering the “Good Guy” phase with Billy Napier. As in: “Billy Napier is a good guy, but he’s in over his head as Florida‘s head coach.” This thing is over. It’s done. He’s going to be gone at some point and will not be the Florida head coach in 2026. How long will it take the administration to make the move? Will the team show some more fight for him or will it continue to quit on him and skip the alma mater after games? Things could get ugly in Miami this weekend.

14. South Carolina (2-1, 0-1)

• Previous ranking: 10
• Last week: 31-7 L to Vanderbilt
• This week: at Mizzou

Mike Shula needs to be gone. Not tomorrow, not today. Yesterday. He shouldn’t have been hired at all. I don’t take it lightly saying someone shouldn’t have a job, but even when LaNorris Sellers was out there on Saturday against Vanderbilt, this offense did nothing. How many more struggles do we need to see? This Gamecocks season is going to be decided by how quickly Shane Beamer realizes his mistake and makes a change with his offensive play callers.

13. Arkansas (2-1, 0-1)

• Previous ranking: 15
• Last week: 41-35 L to No. 17 Ole Miss
• This week: at Memphis

I’m bumping up the Hogs 2 spots here despite a loss. I don’t usually do that, but Arkansas offense looked good in Oxford. The defense? Not so much. Ole Miss was dealing with 2 banged-up QBs for most of the evening and still won. Not a good look. A road trip to Memphis doesn’t look easy, either. As long as Taylen Green is healthy, the Hogs are going to put up points. Can the defense be serviceable? We’ll see.

12. Mississippi State (3-0, 0-0)

• Previous ranking: 13
• Last week: 63-0 W over Alcorn State
• This week: vs. Northern Illinois

The Bulldogs did what they were supposed to do this week against an FCS opponent. They’ve already surpassed their win total for last year, which is nothing to turn your nose up at. Northern Illinois should be another fairly easy victory this weekend to let Mississippi State double its 2024 win total before Week 5.

11. Texas (2-1, 0-0)

• Previous ranking: 3
• Last week: 27-10 W over UTEP
• This week: vs. Sam Houston

Look, something isn’t right with Arch Manning. Either he isn’t a very good quarterback or he’s injured. That’s where we’re at. Steve Sarkisian can make all the weird comments he wants about not watching Texas media members go to the bathroom, but it’s clear that we aren’t getting what was promised with Arch. If the Longhorns can’t beat Sam Houston 63-10 this coming week, the questions are going to persist.

10. Alabama (2-1, 0-0)

• Previous ranking: 12
• Last week: 38-14 W over Wisconsin
• This week: OFF

Tim Keenan and Jam Miller should be back after the bye week for the road trip to Georgia. Will that be enough for Alabama to pull off a stunning victory? I don’t know. I’ve liked what I’ve seen from Kalen DeBoer‘s squad over the last couple of weeks, but Georgia is a different animal. We’ll see if the Tide can continue building momentum during their first bye of the season.

9. Auburn (3-0, 0-0)

• Previous ranking: 11
• Last week: 31-15 W over South Alabama
• This week: at Oklahoma

We’ll learn a lot about Auburn in the next 5 weeks, as the Tigers play at Oklahoma and at Texas A&M before their first bye. Then they host Georgia and Mizzou in back-to-back weeks. Jackson Arnold is an upgrade over what Auburn had at QB last year, but is he ready to win an SEC road game? We’ll find out Saturday in Norman.

8. Vanderbilt (3-0, 1-0)

• Previous ranking: 9
• Last week: 31-7 W at No. 11 South Carolina
• This week: vs. Georgia State

Vanderbilt lost in Atlanta to Georgia State after starting 2-0 last year, so this is a revenge game, as odd as that sounds. The Commodores appear to be even better this year, though, so a 4-0 start is very much in the mix this weekend.

7. Ole Miss (3-0, 2-0)

• Previous ranking: 5
• Last week: 41-35 W over Arkansas
• This week: vs. Tulane

Don’t sleep on this Tulane matchup. The Green Wave are also 3-0. The Green Wave aren’t dealing with multiple banged-up QBs. Credit to the Rebels for finding a way to win on Saturday night against Arkansas, but they’re not going to keep winning if they can’t keep a quarterback upright.

6. Mizzou (3-0, 0-0)

• Previous ranking: 7
• Last week: 52-10 W over Louisiana
• This week: vs. South Carolina

Beau Pribula deserves to be in Heisman Trophy conversations at the moment, as does Ahmad Hardy. Will that last? I don’t know. The Tigers catch South Carolina at a good time, though. The Gamecocks are reeling right as the Tigers seem to be hitting their stride. Look for an exciting game at Faurot Field this Saturday. It might have been the College GameDay location for this week if South Carolina hadn’t lost to Vanderbilt.

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5. Tennessee (2-1, 0-1)

• Previous ranking: 4
• Last week: 44-41 (OT) L to No. 6 Georgia
• This week: vs. UAB

This is still a very good Tennessee team. The Vols have a QB in Joey Aguilar. Josh Heupel and company are going to compete for a spot in the Playoff. What a game against Georgia. If a kick and a couple of bounces went the Vols’ way, they’d be much higher on this list. Such is football.

4. Oklahoma (3-0, 0-0)

• Previous ranking: 6
• Last week: 42-3 W at Temple
• This week: vs. Auburn

It was always about having a competent offense for Oklahoma. Well, the Sooners have it. No, the running game hasn’t been great, but it’s gotten the job done. All you can do is win the games you play, and the Sooners have done that. Now they need to win the breakup with Jackson Arnold. The crowd is going to be fierce this weekend in Norman when Auburn comes to town.

3. Texas A&M (3-0, 0-0)

• Previous ranking: 8
• Last week: 41-40 W at No. 8 Notre Dame
• This week: OFF

This was exactly the win Mike Elko needed to set the tone at Texas A&M. Going on the road and earning a top-10 win (especially in nonconference play) is absolutely huge for the Aggies. I’m calling it now — I’m going to have to retire my 8-4 jokes at the end of this season. The Aggies are a Playoff-caliber team and I think 9 wins is the floor right now. The ceiling? We’ll see.

2. Georgia (3-0, 1-0)

• Previous ranking: 2
• Last week: 44-41 (OT) W at No. 15 Tennessee
• This week: OFF

I have some concerns about the Georgia defense now, but my goodness, did Gunner Stockton ever make a statement this weekend on Rocky Top. I’m going to withhold my full judgment of this team until after the bye week when the Dawgs host Alabama, but all you can do is go 1-0 each week. Kirby Smart and company did just that on Saturday and now get a week off to regroup. Well done.

1. LSU (3-0, 1-0)

• Previous ranking: 1
• Last week: 20-10 W over Florida
• This week: vs. SE Louisiana

Should Brian Kelly have gone off on that reporter for asking about LSU‘s offensive struggles? No. But do I understand his point? Yes. He should’ve just said “We have some things to work on and we know that.” Instead, he went on yet another meme-worthy rant. But who cares if the offense struggles when the Tigers have been on the right side of the final score 3 weeks in a row? Keep winning games and nothing else matters.