SEC Power Rankings after Week 5
The SEC produced the early favorite for Game of the Year on Saturday night in Tuscaloosa. Alabama held off a furious comeback attempt from Georgia to stay unbeaten on the season.
But was it enough to vault the Tide to No. 1 in our weekly power rankings?
Plenty of other teams had strong showings over the weekend, as well.
Without further ado, let’s dive into this week’s SEC power rankings as we get ready for Week 6:
16. Mississippi State (1-4 overall, 0-2 in SEC)
Previous ranking: 16
This week: 35-13 L to No. 1 Texas
Next week: OFF
All in all, losing 35-13 to the No. 1 team in the nation isn’t all that bad for the Bulldogs. They did some good things, but at the end of the day, this team just doesn’t have enough talent to hang in the SEC this year. We’ll see if Jeff Lebby can build some positive momentum as the Bulldogs eye 2025.
15. Auburn (2-3, 0-2)
Previous ranking: 15
This week: 27-21 L to No. 21 Oklahoma
Next week: at Georgia
The Tigers just can’t stay out of their own way. Leading late, Payton Thorne threw a really bad pick-6 to Oklahoma LB Kip Lewis. If this team can start taking care of the ball more, wins will come. But until then … things could remain ugly for a team still looking for answers at QB.
14. Vanderbilt (2-2, 0-1)
Previous ranking: 14
This week: OFF
Next week: vs. Alabama
The Commodores were off this week, but I don’t expect that to help too much as they prepare to welcome Alabama to town in Week 6. The stadium is going to be full of Crimson Tide fans and Jalen Milroe is playing like the Heisman favorite. This should be a blowout in Nashville.
13. Florida (2-2, 1-1)
Previous ranking: 13
This week: OFF
Next week: vs. UCF
The Gators got a week off to bask in the glow of an SEC victory over Mississippi State. Now they’ll play another Sunshine State rivalry game as the UCF Knights come to Gainesville in Week 6. Could we see the Gators build a little more momentum before a trip to Tennessee in Week 7?
12. Arkansas (3-2, 1-1)
Previous ranking: 8
This week: 21-17 L to No. 24 Texas A&M
Next week: vs. Tennessee
It’s hard not to feel like the Hogs let a great opportunity slip away. They were right there with the Aggies all afternoon in Arlington, but just couldn’t get over the hump when it mattered most. With Tennessee heading to town this coming weekend looking like a legitimate Playoff contender, it might get ugly in Fayetteville.
11. South Carolina (3-1, 1-1)
Previous ranking: 11
This week: OFF
Next week: vs. Ole Miss
The Gamecocks had a week off after a win over Akron. This weekend, they’ll welcome an angry Ole Miss squad to Williams-Brice Stadium. I fully expect South Carolina to be prepared for this contest. The Gamecocks have shown they can hang tough with strong teams this year (see: LSU and Kentucky). Expect this to be a close game.
10. Oklahoma (4-1, 1-1)
Previous ranking: 10
This week: 27-21 W over Auburn
Next week: OFF
The Sooners’ defense once again bailed out the offense. Kip Lewis’s pick-6 snatched victory from the jaws of defeat at Jordan-Hare Stadium. I’m not going to bump Oklahoma up in my rankings after that win, but this defense is truly an elite unit. Texas will have to be careful in Week 7.
9. Texas A&M (4-1, 2-0)
Previous ranking: 9
This week: 21-17 W over Arkansas
Next week: vs. Mizzou
The Aggies have the best record in the SEC at the moment, but those 2 wins were over Arkansas and Florida. The top-10 Missouri Tigers come to College Station on Saturday afternoon for a former Big 12 showdown, though, so A&M will have a chance to prove itself. We’ll see if the Aggies can score a résumé-building win.
8. Ole Miss (4-1, 0-1)
Previous ranking: 2
This week: 20-17 L to Kentucky
Next week: at South Carolina
The Ole Miss Playoff bandwagon hit a rough patch of road on Saturday in a loss to Kentucky. This offense has been flirting with disaster a lot lately – putting up a lot of yards, but not scoring as many points as it could due to penalties and poor execution. That finally caught up to the Rebels against the Wildcats. All of Ole Miss’s goals are still attainable, though, so we’ll see if the Rebels come out angry in South Carolina this weekend.
7. Kentucky (3-2, 1-2)
Previous ranking: 12
This week: 20-17 W over No. 6 Ole Miss
Next week: OFF
This was the biggest win of the Mark Stoops era. I was ready to write the Wildcats off after the loss to South Carolina. Kudos to Stoops and his staff for keeping this team focused and getting the players back on track. The defense is great. If the offense can keep improving, more big wins could be in the Wildcats’ future.
6. LSU (4-1, 1-0)
Previous ranking: 6
This week: 42-10 W over South Alabama
Next week: OFF
This was a strong showing for the LSU defense. Minus Harold Perkins, the Tigers had their best defensive showing yet. Now they’ll have a chance to regroup a bit, which will be important before SEC play resumes. The Tigers host Ole Miss on Oct. 12, so the defense will need to be at its best.
5. Mizzou (4-0, 1-0)
Previous ranking: 7
This week: OFF
Next week: at Texas A&M
Jumping 2 spots on an off week? Not bad! The Tigers will need to have their best offensive showing this coming Saturday afternoon, though, as they head to College Station for a ranked matchup against Texas A&M. Brady Cook hasn’t been firing on all cylinders yet this season. If the Tigers are going to win, he’ll need to be great.
4. Georgia (3-1, 1-1)
Previous ranking: 1
This week: 41-34 L to No. 4 Alabama
Next week: vs. Auburn
The Bulldogs lost to Alabama, yes, but this team deserves a ton of credit for fighting back to take a lead in a game it had no business doing so in. But at the end of the day, it wasn’t enough. This is still a really good team, but QB Carson Beck and the offense need to find some answers before the Texas game on Oct. 19.
3. Tennessee (4-0, 1-0)
Previous ranking: 4
This week: OFF
Next week: at Arkansas
The Vols are the talk of the town lately. This squad looks very much the part of a Playoff contender. A trip to Arkansas won’t be easy, necessarily, but it should be manageable for Nico Iamaleava and company. The Vols need to score a convincing road win – the kind that have been hard to come by for teams around the SEC this season.
2. Texas (5-0, 1-0)
Previous ranking: 3
This week: 35-13 W over Mississippi State
Next week: OFF
One SEC game, no problems for the Longhorns. Sure, it was against an abysmal Mississippi State squad, but a win is a win. Quinn Ewers’ status is something to keep an eye on moving forward, but having Arch Manning as your backup QB is a good situation to be in. The Longhorns will now rest up before the Red River Rivalry against Oklahoma in a couple of weeks.
1. Alabama (4-0, 1-0)
Previous ranking: 5
This week: 41-34 W over No. 2 Georgia
Next week: at Vanderbilt
Wow. Jalen Milroe looks like the Heisman frontrunner. Ryan Williams looks like a contender for the Biletnikoff Award. The Crimson Tide made some of the best plays you’ll ever see against a Georgia defense. Yes, they almost gave up a big halftime lead, but all that matters is the Tide protected their home turf and got the W. This week, they’ll travel to Vanderbilt in what will surely feel like another home game.
Missou jumping 2 spots on an off week? My question exactly.
Ole Miss could be looking at a 3 game loosing streak with loses to Kentucky, S. Carolina and LSU. Possible? Very much so.
Alabama had a great win over #2 Georgia. But a leap of 5 places to #1? That could be considered a stretch. Can be argued both ways.
Let’s not forget who has the longest active winning streak in college football dating back to last year. That probably counts for something I’d imagine.
MIZ!
Anything dating back to last season has nothing to do with this season. Players are different and schedules are different.
There is too much hype from the sports writers in college football. I think we can both agree that any ratings by the writers is basically meaninglessly.
I agree until we play more games (more data points) we don’t know how teams will finish up. I do know that ranking do have an impact on how the common fan, some recruits, etc. view programs so if we are going to have rankings then I would rather be ranked higher than lower.
In terms of what goes into the rankings I would argue the recent past is more important than distant past.
As a Mizzou fan I hear all the time that we can’t win a championship because we haven’t “in the past”. That doesn’t make sense to me. We beat teams that won championships in the past and we say that sense a team 10 years ago with different coach and players won a championship that that team can win a championship.
Mizzou hasn’t played its best football but we returned a lot so we do have an idea what our potential is.
I’m a Mizzou fan and since there are rankings at this point in the season I’m going to make our case to be ranked high. :)
You are correct sir
Coaching staff has returning ‘starters’, that clearly can be part of a ranking opinion! None of these rankings have more than a small sample of conference games however. Every week now we are going to get more real evidence. I’m curious about what fans think about their own coaching staff retention and / or promotion or hiring?
In the case of Drinkwitz that staff could have a lot of upward growth.
Considering Misery was almost beat at home by Candy?
36-7…standing on business ;)
And still Tennessee State Champs!
ZOU!
That’s what Ole Miss thought last week.
There is no reason for Mizzou to jump LSU, other than the author is an unapologetic Mizzou fan.
Mizzou has that thrilling OT win against Vandy who’s a premier team in the conference according to Mizzou fans :)
Yikes….
A win is a win.
Very true, good luck to y’all in College Station this weekend
Records don’t mean very much yet but they are starting to.
I’ve long said, polls mean nothing until October.
The hard evidence says Vanderbilt is about 6th in the SEC after these games have been played, the future will tell more.
What hard evidence? Is it the big win over 3-3 Virginia Tech or the Alcorn State win? Is the Georgia State loss hard evidence? Well it is hard evidence but only hard evidence that Vandy is not the sixth best team in the conference. Oh I get it now they almost beat Missouri so that must mean they are really good.
Thanks for the laugh @engine. Wolfman is insane if he thinks Vandy is the 6th best team in the country. Mizzou is just average….
This is the week TAMU can prove that Mizzou is average… College Station is a tough place to play, but if Mizzou is ready to take the step, this will be a great time to make a statement. I think this will be one of the better games of the weekend.
Either Mizzou is average or A&M is as good as we saw Saturday. I’m thinkin both are true…
I bet Auburn wishes they had gotten the Vandy QB – he’s really something!
“I bet Auburn wishes they had gotten the Vandy QB – he’s really something!”
What a sad time to be an AU fan when that statement is true.
“hard evidence is Win-loss record and scores against common opponents to a lesser extent, head to head does not wipe out the other two. If a person trys to use something else the logic is far weaker or nonexistent. Sure we would like to use other leverage, like last year’s games when the rosters were 20% different on average.
In the absence or head to head and common opponents win – loss record is the weakest hard evidence and means a lot less
Your responses are illogical. You orginally said hard evidence says Vandy should be 6th in the conference. Then you define hard evidence as win/loss record, head to head, and common opponents. Vandy is 2-2, Missouri is the only conference game they have played so head to head doesn’t come into play, and there are no common opponents with any SEC team. The only hard evidence that can be aplied according to your definition is win/loss record which places them 13th in the conference. Vandy appears to be better than they typically are but that bar is extremely low considering they are historically the doormat of the SEC. Trying to put lipstick on a pig to justify why Vandy took Missouri down to wire isn’t working. Just admit that up to this point of the season Missouri hasn’t played well and is benefiting in the rankings from last years performance not this years.
Let’s go back to last week when Alabama was 5 (now 1), Texas was 3 (now 2), and Ole Miss 2 (now 9). I mean, second! That was based on what, exactly?
MS is now eighth. Forgive me.
“That was based on what, exactly?”
Clickbait.
“But until then … things could remain ugly for a team still looking for answers at QB.”
Funny how you fail to mention 2 missed FGs. This loss was on Thorne’s fault.
That was frankly a very good day for Thorne. Over 300 yards, over 10 yards/attempt and three passing TDs. The pick was badly timed, but wasn’t destined to be a pick 6. Just happened that no AU player could get there.
That is one where I look at the stat sheet and can’t quite tell how AU managed to lose a game where they outgained the opponent by almost 200 yards, were penalized less, and only turned the ball over one time.
I meant to post “This loss was not on Thorne.” Yes, Thorne did very well up until that one mistake. Some of those throws were fantastic.
“Just happened that no AU player could get there.”
There were a few of those plays where two receivers were not in the right place. Thorne yelled at both of them.
Give me a couple more games and all the polls and power rankings will mean a lot more.
1. Texas
2. Alabama
3. Tennessee
4. Georgia
5. LSU
6. Missouri
7. Ole Miss
8. Kentucky
9. Oklahoma
This LSU team seems to be playing extremely well right now. Harold Perkins is a phenomenal player, but could this defense be better not having to plan for him? Whit Weeks is a beast himself.
Take the purple and gold glasses off. Y’all barely beat SCAR. LSU is average at best.
If I were wearing purple and gold glasses, I’d have LSU #1 if they lost every game. Your comment is stupid. YOU barely beat a bad Arkansas team that would probably lose to Vanderbilt and South Alabama. Not to mention, your team lost to Notre Dame..who promptly lost to Northern Illinois…who lost to…whoever.
Seems to be LSU’s offense is better than average..35.2 ppg is pretty darn good considering what was lost. A defense giving up 21.6 ppg is quite an improved jump over last year’s defense so far. Granted, they still have a ways to go, but the improvement is glaring, even a blind person could see that. Perhaps not you. Getting certain players back from injury certainly helps as well.
Mizzou is undefeated unlike LSU. No way on Earth LSU should be ranked higher than Mizzou.
They may be undefeated, but just like many SEC teams, a lot of questions still to be answered. Just my opinion is all. LSU dropped 5 places after losing to USC. Missouri dropped what..3 places after escaping with a win against Vandy?
But, in your point, a win is a win regardless of the competition, and regardless whether it looks like garbage or not. I can see that too.
“They may be undefeated, but just like many SEC teams, a lot of questions still to be answered.”
Understood, but this a weekly fake power ranking. Still plenty of games to be played.
It doesn’t matter who’s ahead between LSU and Mizzou in this article. They both had their issues. Mizzou escaped on a missed field goal against Vanderbilt and LSU escaped with a bad call by the officials against SC. But they both won and that’s going to matter the most at the end of the year if they can improve and keep winning.
correct. a game we GAVE away. South Carolina… we lost our qb at the end of the first half and still almost beat LSU. No one is watching us this year. For the first time since 2013 we have the D line in place to disrupt ANYBODY. And that gives you a chance. That’s all I’m asking for.
He’s got Mississippi ranked ahead of the team they just lost to at home so…
“I was ready to write the Wildcats off after the loss to South Carolina.”
More like you did write them off…that’s why you had them ranked #12.
Kentucky with a great team win, but they will be fighting to win 7 games this year. I don’t see how the Ole Miss win catapults them into the top 8. What do I know tho.
Kentucky’s offense is horrible, but their defense is good. Deone Walker is probably one of the best, if not the best interior DL in the SEC.
I don’t think Kentucky’s offense is terrible. Think about it from this perspective- Kentucky starts the year vs Southern Miss. Hard to learn a lot from that game. Every weakness is exposed against a very good SC defense. And truly, that was BVG’s first real test as a starter. They made some adjustments and the offense played better against Georgia and better yet against Ole Miss. I think the new OC has done a really good job calling games and shows improvement instead of continuing to just let the QB drop back in the pocket. Admittedly the numbers have not jumped off the page, but Kentucky’s first three SEC games were against really good defenses. We’ll see how they compete in the next three games against Vandy, FL and Auburn, but I feel optimistic that the game experience for both the QB and OC are improving every week…
I wouldn’t take Vanderbilt lightly. I could see them walking away with a win against Kentucky. Good luck the rest of your season. The football bounces all kinds of funny ways!
I overlook no team and hope my Cats don’t either…. I’ve seen this movie too many times!
Agreement with everything about the offense.
Defense is legit, and probably should have beaten UGA if that pick 6 wasn’t incorrectly reversed.
Let’s be honest. The SEC has a bunch of great teams and a handful of good ones. The disparity in schedules will make it difficult to rank the teams at the end of the season, much less now.
Some of the games already played–and many of those to come–will be decided by luck, home field advantage, individual player match-ups,injuries, coaching blunders, bad ref calls, etc.
If Beck’s last throw is caught in the end zone instead of intercepted Georgia would be #1 and Bama would be #6. But where would they be ranked if Kentucky had kicked one more field goal?
Vandy beat a VA Tech team that the “experts” had picked as a sleeper in the ACC. Those experts then jumped on the Cam Ward and Miami bandwagon and only a bizarre call overturn by an ACC replay official (the ref that was standing 15 feet from the play and saw it clearly called it a touchdown) saved Miami from losing to VaTech. And if it wasn’t for a sudden shower that caused their kicker to slip and hook a field goal attempt and a bad fourth qwuarter against an inferior team Vandy might be 4 and 0 and Missouri wouldn’t be in the top 20 much less the top 10.
If Missouri should beat A&M, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Arkansas and lose to an Alabama team that goes undefeated they could technically finish second in the SEC and go to the Championship game for a replay with Bama–without having played Texas, Tennessee, LSU, Mississippi, or Georgia. Do you think fans of any of those schools would say the Tigers were worthy of that? I doubt it.
On the other hand, I think if Mizzou drops one game besides the Bama loss they won’t make the playoffs. And that’s due to the history/reputation factor that others here have mentioned.
We all need to sit back and enjoy the games and hope our team’s key players get their NIL money.
The SEC is better than any conference, well lets just say the TEN because that’s the only other conference worth mentioning, so such lists as these are pretty meaningless.
Adam likes Mizzou’s impressive win over “bye week”,, no homerism!
Vandy has a good coach, will he be moving to Florida?
Kentucky D is real.
Lane train left the station a little late..
Much fun left this season.
Meant to say the SEC is not just better than the others it’s also better top to bottom than the others.
Tennessee’s totally revamped secondary still has not been tested. Until they are the elite defense references are unfounded.
USC will defeat the SIP. Is it just me or is that nickname really bad? What say you Reb fans?
UK should be taken very seriously. Their defense has been thoroughly tested and is elite.