Week 4 SEC Power Rankings: Shakeup in the Top 5, Bottom 5
There’s no change at the top — and almost no chance for a change at the top — until Oct. 22, when Texas A&M visits Alabama.
The Tide and Aggies have separated from the pack, but there was plenty of shakeup elsewhere in the Week 4 SEC Power Rankings.
14. Vanderbilt
Last week: 12
Skinny: Circle Oct. 8. If Vanderbilt doesn’t win that game, they might not win another this season. Of course, the same could be said of their opponent that day — Kentucky.
13. Kentucky
Last week: 14
Skinny: Trying to keep it positive, nobody has scored 50 on Mark Stoops’ defense this season. Stephen Johnson looked terrific, too. Kentucky’s offense is fun to watch … even if nobody is watching.
12. Mississippi State
Last week: 11
Skinny: Rankings are fluid. Nick Fitzgerald regressed Saturday after ripping up South Carolina in Week 2. As such, the running game was non-existent against LSU.
11. South Carolina
Last week: 13
Skinny: Brandon McIlwain is Kurt Roper’s kind of quarterback. What seemed unthinkable to some — bowl eligibility — doesn’t seem so outlandish any more. It’s still a long shot, but if the Gamecocks handle Kentucky on Saturday, that Nov. 5 home date with Missouri will be really interesting.
10. Auburn
Last week: 8
Skinny: Auburn’s offense is exactly what we thought it was — below average.
9. Missouri
Last week: 10
Skinny: Tigers lose and move up? They were one stop from beating a Top 20 team. Drew Lock was one terrible decision from delivering a signature win. The margins are so fine in the SEC, but that’s how close the Tigers are to contending again in the East.
8. Tennessee
Last week: 3
Skinny: Josh Dobbs came within 5 yards — about the distance of his two deep overthrows — of silencing questions about his downfield accuracy. How long are we going to keep asking: If the Vols ever hit on those plays …? This Vols are better than this ranking, but they certainly haven’t played like it. Saturday would be a good time to start.
7. LSU
Last week: 9
Skinny: Danny Etling was solid, and that might be all the Tigers need him to be for the next month or so.
6. Florida
Last week: 5
Skinny: Last week, the Gators had Luke Del Rio. This week, they’re breaking in another quarterback in mid-stream for the second consecutive season. Transfer Austin Appleby seems better suited to run Jim McElwain’s system than Treon Harris. The Gators’ defense is top 2, and that might be enough to beat Tennessee for the 12th consecutive time, but they’ll need to score to hold off Georgia in the East.
5. Ole Miss
Last week: 4
Skinny: The kings of 30-minute football, Ole Miss still has the most dangerous quarterback in the league. Which means the Rebels have a chance to beat every team left on their schedule.
4. Arkansas
Last week: 7
Skinny: Who expected the Razorbacks to be 3-0 entering Saturday’s huge showdown in Jerry World against Texas A&M? Arkansas is changing opinions across the land, as evidenced by their No. 17 ranking in the AP Poll. They received exactly 14 votes in the preseason Top 25.
3. Georgia
Last week: 6
Skinny: Georgia is 3-0, has solved all quarterback questions and hasn’t gotten much from the reliable running game in each of the past two weeks. In other words, there’s plenty of growth still to come.
2. Texas A&M
Last week: 2
Skinny: The Aggies weren’t even particularly crisp but still won by double digits, on the road, against an Auburn team that pushed Clemson.
1. Alabama
Last week: 1
Skinny: As if Alabama needed any help, the Tide scored three more non-offensive touchdowns Saturday against Ole Miss. Their comeback from 21 down was the largest under Nick Saban — and it was fueled by a punt return TD and erased by a fumble return TD.
That’s five consecutive games with at least one non-offensive touchdown.
That’s great in any scenario, but downright scary when you consider the Tide’s defense is nearly outscoring opponents without any help from its offense.
Chris Wright is Executive Editor at SaturdayDownSouth.com. Email him at cwright@saturdaydownsouth.com.
Not sure UT is 8th, although they certainly have not played very well to this point. If they win against UF, then the rankings will take care of themselves. With our offensive line, two dominate defenses and a new QB, it could be an ugly game.
Yea for sure but putting UGA 3rd because they beat Mizzou on a last second td pass on 4th down is kinda laughable I mean this is a team that was only a preseason favorite because of Chubb who is clearly not the RB from pre-injury… This is the team that beats Nicholls by 2 points and they’re 3rd in the SEC? Maybe third in the east…
No true UGA fan thinks UGA is any better right now than 3rd in the East. If they say any different, they are lying. Weak OL, no kicking game, a suspect running game and a Freshman QB…..lots of season left to play.
I think 3rd is too high at this point also but the “Freshman QB” is better each game and the running game will come along when the line opens holes and we start throwing some screen passes to open things up. Ask me after this week if we are #3.
I do agree that Kirby needs to put out an All Points Bulletin for a field goal kicker. That’s going to hurt us soon.
Agreed. UF is best in the East, followed by UT (who has yet to show up for a game), and then UGA. I guess author’s logic in putting us 3 overall is that Eason has solidified himself as a starter and looks increasingly great for a true freshman, but as the author himself said “there’s plenty of growth still to come.” To me, he’s ranking us on our potential and predicting that we will end up the 3rd best team in the conference (which is possible), but that doesn’t make us the 3rd best team now; we aren’t. I do disagree with you about Chubb clearly not being as good as pre-injury, only because he already showed off his abilities against UNC (his 3rd highest career rushing total) and if you’ve watched us the past couple of weeks, it’s the run blocking that is so troublesome; not the ball carriers. I’m not saying he’s clearly what he was, but I think it’s equally wrong to say he’s clearly not at this point. Jury is still out and it depends on what he shows over a bigger sample size (hopefully with better blocking). The O-line situation will be an even bigger problem for us if we can’t fix things by our game with y’all, considering your D-line is insane.
Not sure how dominate I would say the UT defense is, especially with the injuries currently. That being said, it wont take more than a decent defense to stop Florida. This is going to end up being an ugly game and it’ll probably come down to which team can keep composure and limit stupid penalties.
Hate to say it but I have to agree on this. Before the season I would have said–along with a ton of other people–that Tennessee’s defense was going to be the talk of the conference. With stellar, all-conference players at every level, as well as the addition of one of the top coordinators in the game, we looked awesome.
Fast forward to now and I’m pretty sure that Appleby is going to have his way with our secondary on Saturday. And whoever the clowns are in Vegas saying we’re an 8 1/2 point favorite need to seek immediate psychiatric help.
That being said, GO BIG ORANGE!
UGA at 3?! Mizzou by 1 and Nicholls by 2. Am I missing something here? This is 2016 right???
It takes something this ridiculous for a Vol fan to agree with a Gator.
Georgia is BARELY the 3rd best team in the East let alone the conference; someone needs to lay off the crack pipe at SDS.
And, GO BIG ORANGE!
While I definitely agree Georgia is shockingly high at three, ahead of Arkansas and Ole Miss, to think that UT should be higher is equally ridiculous. You’ve played terrible competition and still managed to look so mediocre. We’ll find out a lot about both teams this week.
Why dont you worry about each other right now and let UGA worry about Ole Miss?
looks like we’re going to have to take the crayons away from Chris Wright. Since there have been almost no conference games played yet, we only have about 10% guess on who should be where. Save the cheerleading for your UGA friends and hope you qualify for the popcorn bowl.
Who won y’alls game last week against UGA?
We’re clearly playoff contenders. Chubb is back and Eason is the man! Saban wishes he had it this good.
Eason for sure, but I think the verdict may still be out with Chubb. Shocked by his lack of output the last two weeks.
Look Chris I understand you said you are done with the vols for now but how can you put ole miss at 5 when they are 1-2 (yes I know against good competition but doesn’t matter, still 1-2) and leave 2 undefeated teams behind them in Florida and Tennessee? Ole miss should be behind both of them and maybe even behind LSU as well just based off the record
These are power rankings. It shouldn’t be just based off the record but how they performed against the level of competition….
Exactly. Tennessee may be 3-0, but they’ve struggled against App.State and Ohio. Same way Georgia is 3-0 but comes into Oxford as nearly touchdown underdogs.
Enjoy your 1-3 start.
^^^Laughs at opponent’s possible 1-3 start when his own team won’t make a bowl game. Definition of a State fan.
i realize they have struggled, however they are in more of a position of power than ole miss is because they have yet to drop a game while ole miss has dropped two. just my opinion which is obviously disagreed with by multiple people on here but i stand by it, there is no reason 2 3-0 teams should be behind a 1-2 team no matter the SOS thusfar
Ole Miss is still a very dangerous team. Saturday will be fun I think. Glad to see SEC- ond to none is still posting. No sarcasm there. But where is Rebel_Landsharks and Armyguy 021-193?
Probably the same place as tackman the vanishing LSU fan….
No doubt that ole miss is very dangerous, however I can’t understand placing a team that is negative above 2 undefeated teams right now its just doesn’t make sense
I get it. It’s about how they’ve looked and who they’ve played. and yea Bamatime, maybe they’re drinking their blues away and sharing a plate of crow. Site is better off without them.
Saturday will complete three full classes at Tennessee that have not beaten Florida. Move over FLA-KY, the Tennessee streak with FLA is close behind!