Week 8 was another wild one in the SEC, with Ole Miss losing at Texas, LSU dominating Auburn, South Carolina taking down Tennessee, and more.
As has become common this month, putting together this edition of the power rankings was really tough. There’s a clear bottom tier and a clear top tier. But the teams in the middle are nearly impossible to rank.
Anyway, I gave it my best shot. Here are my updated SEC power rankings after Week 8:
16. Vanderbilt Commodores (3-5 overall, 0-5 in SEC)
- Previous ranking: 16
- Last week: 34-17 L at No. 12 Kentucky
- This week: OFF
Vanderbilt was competitive in the first half, but this is not a good team this year. I don’t know if there’s another win on the schedule for the Commodores in 2026.
15. Arkansas Razorbacks (3-4, 1-3)
- Previous ranking: 15
- Last week: OFF
- This week: vs. Mizzou
Sometimes bye weeks don’t come at the best time. The Arkansas Razorbacks had been playing their best football of the year, nearly upsetting Tennessee in Fayetteville and then winning at Vanderbilt. We’ll see if they can stay competitive when Mizzou comes to town this weekend.
14. Texas A&M Aggies (4-4, 1-4)
- Previous ranking: 14
- Last week: 31-20 L at No. 13 Alabama
- This week: OFF
Marcel Reed looked like he was going to be benched after throwing 2 interceptions in Texas A&M‘s first 5 plays on Saturday. He rallied to keep things competitive against Alabama, but this team is going nowhere fast. If the Aggies don’t figure some things out this week on the bye, it’s going to be a long November.
13. Mississippi State Bulldogs (4-3, 2-3)
- Previous ranking: 13
- Last week: 23-15 L vs. Oklahoma
- This week: at Texas
Mississippi State was the story of September. October has been more of a nightmare. And November isn’t looking good either, especially if Kamario Taylor misses more action.
12. Auburn Tigers (4-3, 2-3)
- Previous ranking: 12
- Last week: 38-17 L vs. No. 18 LSU
- This week: at Ole Miss
Yeah, that was a hangover game for the Auburn Tigers. Coming off the emotional win at Georgia, they rolled over for LSU at home. Now another tough road trip awaits.
11. South Carolina Gamecocks (4-3, 2-3)
- Previous ranking: 11
- Last week: 27-24 W vs. No. 11 Tennessee
- This week: at Oklahoma
Why is it that the South Carolina Gamecocks only start playing well when their backs are against the wall? Maybe next year at the start of SEC play, Shane Beamer should lie to his team. “OK guys, we’re already 0-3 in SEC play. My job’s on the line. Your job is on the line. Let’s get out there and play like we’ve got nothing to lose!” It’s worth a shot, at least.
10. Texas Longhorns (5-2, 2-2)
- Previous ranking: 10
- Last week: 34-27 W vs. No. 7 Ole Miss
- This week: vs. Mississippi State
Yes, that was a nice, season-saving win for Steve Sarkisian and the Texas Longhorns. But what goes on in that halftime locker room? It seems like the Longhorns start hot in all of these big games and then have to hang on for dear life (with varying levels of success) in the second halves. It seems opposing coaching staffs are doing a better job than Sark and company of making halftime adjustments, which is concerning.
9. Oklahoma Sooners (4-3, 2-2)
- Previous ranking: 9
- Last week: 23-15 W at Mississippi State
- This week: vs. South Carolina
A road win in the SEC is never something to turn your nose up at, but only winning by 1 score against a Mississippi State squad that was without star QB Kamario Taylor for most of the game isn’t great. You know which team does have its star QB? South Carolina, who comes to Norman this weekend.
8. Florida Gators (5-2, 3-2)
- Previous ranking: 8
- Last week: OFF
- This week: vs. Georgia (in Atlanta)
Florida is in danger of dropping in the rankings next week if it can’t pull off an upset against an angry Georgia squad. Unfortunately for the Gators, this year’s Cocktail Party is in Atlanta. That’ll be weird for numerous reasons.
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7. Missouri Tigers (5-2, 2-2)
- Previous ranking: 7
- Last week: OFF
- This week: at Arkansas
Mizzou had a week off to dissect what went wrong in Oxford a couple of weeks ago. Winning on the road in the SEC isn’t easy, so Eli Drinkwitz and company will need to treat this trip to Fayetteville with the respect it deserves. The Tigers are 0-2 on the road in SEC play thus far.
6. Tennessee Volunteers (6-2, 3-2)
- Previous ranking: 2
- Last week: 27-24 L at South Carolina
- This week: OFF
Going to South Carolina is tough. The Tennessee Volunteers did themselves no favors with penalties. Yes, there were a couple of controversial calls but, for the most part, the Vols hurt themselves. They’ve got plenty to clean up during the bye week.
5. Alabama Crimson Tide (6-2, 4-2)
- Previous ranking: 5
- Last week: 31-20 W vs. Texas A&M
- This week: OFF
Alabama has an open date on Halloween, so the Tide will get to celebrate the legendary Nick Saban‘s birthday. Meanwhile, Kalen DeBoer and his staff will be hard at work planning for a Nov. 7 trip to Baton Rouge.
4. Ole Miss Rebels (5-2, 3-2)
- Previous ranking: 1
- Last week: 34-27 L at No. 19 Texas
- This week: vs. Auburn
I think I’ve hit my quota for this article for saying how hard it is to win on the road in the SEC, so I’ll just let you infer what I want to say here. Ole Miss still has all of its goals within reach. Take care of business at home against an Auburn team that can be feisty this weekend and Pete Golding and company will be in good position still.
3. LSU Tigers (6-2, 3-2)
- Previous ranking: 6
- Last week: 38-17 W at Auburn
- This week: OFF
That was a very convincing win for LSU and Lane Kiffin. Getting Trey’Dez Green back was huge. Now the Tigers get a week off to rest up and get even healthier. We’ll see how Sam Leavitt’s hamstring is feeling on Nov. 7 when Alabama comes to town. It’ll also be interesting to see if Whit Weeks is able to suit up for the LSU defense.
2. Georgia Bulldogs (6-1, 4-1)
- Previous ranking: 4
- Last week: OFF
- This week: vs. Florida (in Atlanta)
I still think Georgia is one of the best teams in the country. They should still lock down one of the spots in Atlanta for the SEC Championship Game, but we’ll see if the Bulldogs fixed some of their issues during the bye week.
1. Kentucky Wildcats (7-1, 5-1)
- Previous ranking: 3
- Last week: 34-17 W vs. Vanderbilt
- This week: OFF
On Saturday, watching LSU take down Auburn in blowout fashion at Jordan-Hare Stadium, I fired off this tweet:
I’m officially apologizing to Kentucky and Will Stein. I got caught up in LSU’s win and was a prisoner of the moment. The Wildcats are currently the best team in the SEC. At Tennessee, vs. Florida, at Mizzou and vs. Louisville is a brutal stretch to end the year, but there’s no reason the Wildcats can’t make a Playoff run.
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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.
