This week’s rankings saw a lot of movement among the top six teams. One SEC East team is out, another is into the top five. In fact, a trio of teams from the East made a push.
Meanwhile, both teams from the state of Mississippi took a hit with tough losses this past Saturday.
Here are the SEC power rankings after Week 5:
Note: () by each team indicates whether teams moved up, down or remained unchanged.
Projected out of a bowl game
14. Vanderbilt Commodores (-)
13. South Carolina Gamecocks (-)
Vanderbilt looked good against Ole Miss, then needed to rally from a 10-point deficit with a little over six minutes left in the fourth quarter to beat Middle Tennessee. It’s hard to figure out the Commodores, but their unpredictability may lead to a big upset at some point this season. Meanwhile, South Carolina QB Lorenzo Nunez fell apart in the second half against Missouri, throwing interceptions on each of the team’s first three possessions of the half. Steve Spurrier’s quarterback situation still needs work.
RELATED: SEC Bowl Projections after Week 5
Trending up or down?
12. Auburn Tigers (-3)
11. Tennessee Volunteers (-3)
10. Arkansas Razorbacks (+1)
Auburn let San Jose State hang around until the fourth quarter before hanging on for the win. With all the QB issues that the Tigers have, they just passed it 10 times and ran it 48 times. As a result, Peyton Barber carried the team with 28 carries, 147 yards and five touchdowns. Tennessee dropped another three spots after proving once again that it couldn’t win a close game. That’s kind of important. The Razorbacks reverted back to last year’s Hogs by running it 50 times and getting two 100-yard games from Alex Collins (154) and Rawleigh Williams III (100). Let’s see if Arkansas sticks with its new-old identity in Tuscaloosa this week.
Middle of the pack
9. Missouri Tigers (+3)
8. Kentucky Wildcats (+2)
7. Mississippi State Bulldogs (-2)
Two of the three biggest jumps this week came from SEC East teams — Missouri and Florida — and those teams will square off this week. We’ve seen Missouri‘s defense play superb for most of this season, but the Tigers’ true freshman QB Drew Lock had a solid outing (21-for-28, 136 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions), and the team rushed for a season-high 163 yards. Of course, that was against South Carolina’s defense, not Florida’s. Kentucky squeaked by Eastern Kentucky in overtime but still climbed two spots mainly because of the fallers. Mississippi State is looking more and more average this season. The upcoming matchups against Troy and Louisiana Tech are crucial if the Bulldogs want to make a bowl because there aren’t any gimmes after that.
Just off the pace
6. Georgia Bulldogs (-3)
5. Ole Miss Rebels (-3)
4. Florida Gators (+3)
Four teams took a three-spot tumble in this week’s rankings, and you can find half of them here. Georgia‘s 38-10 drubbing at the hands of Alabama sent the Bulldogs out of the top five. Georgia hasn’t been getting it done on the big stage as coach Mark Richt is now 11-18 against ranked teams since 2009. Ole Miss will also have to rebound from the beating it took in The Swamp, but it won’t really get a chance to do that until facing Texas A&M in three weeks. The Rebels’ next two games are out of conference against New Mexico State and at Memphis. The Gators jump into the top five with an incredible showing against those Rebels. If Florida can be as balanced as it looked in that game, the Gators are in line for an SEC East title.
RELATED: SEC’s most exciting plays of Week 4
SEC Favorites
3. Texas A&M Aggies (+3)
2. Alabama Crimson Tide (+2)
1. LSU Tigers (-)
Also jumping into the top five is Texas A&M, which also seems to have balance. The Aggies just continue to give us every reason to believe in them this season with the ability to pass, run and play defense. They get a bye before maybe their most important stretch of the season, hosting No. 8 Alabama before traveling to No. 14 Ole Miss. Alabama‘s win over Georgia was impressive in every sense of the word. Just as the Razorbacks got back their run-first style from last season, the Tide did the same by rushing 47 times while passing 16 times. But holding onto the top spot is LSU, which is still unbeaten despite another unimpressive performance in a 44-22 win over Eastern Michigan last week. The Tigers will be expected to take care of business this Saturday at South Carolina before upstart Florida strolls into Death Valley the following week.
Born and raised in Gainesville, Talal joined SDS in 2015 after spending 2 years in Bristol as an ESPN researcher. Previously, Talal worked at The Gainesville Sun.
