What a wild week of football! What we’re learning is that the SEC seems to have a pretty big gap between its top five teams and all the rest. Seriously, you could throw these teams in a hat … and it felt like we did this week. But here’s our SEC Power Rankings after Week 9.

14. Arkansas (2-6, lost to Alabama 48-7)

It’s not like the Razorbacks getting crushed by Alabama was unexpected. It’s not like a third consecutive season without a bowl is a surprise, either. But at this point, it’s hard to find much to hang your hat or hopes on if you’re an Arkansas fan.

13. Mississippi State (3-5, lost to Texas A&M 49-30)

The Joe Moorhead show isn’t exactly shining in Starkville. Following Dan Mullen’s act was destined to be tough, but the offense so far has been good only once a superior opponent has taken control of the game, like this week against A&M.

12. Vanderbilt (2-5, off)

The Commodores picked a heck of a good week to be off, after they pulled off a shocking win that suddenly looks a little less shocking after Missouri laid an egg in Lexington. Wouldn’t be surprising if they dropped a notch once they get back on the field.

11. Ole Miss (3-5, off)

The Rebels move up a notch just because they seem to have a little more positive mojo going than their in-state rivals.

10. Missouri (5-3, lost to Kentucky 29-7)

Two games ago, the Tigers looked like the underrated team in the SEC, and a significant threat to win 10 games. Now they look like one of the league’s biggest disappointments. Given their remaining schedule, it will probably get worse before it gets better.

9. South Carolina (3-5, lost to Tennessee 41-21)

Not unlike Missouri, the Gamecocks looked like the league’s feel-good story. But they followed a victory over Georgia by losing late to Florida, then laying a massive egg Saturday against Tennessee. The Georgia game will be a fond memory, but the rest of 2019, not so much.

8. Tennessee (3-5, beat South Carolina 41-21)

On the other hand, everybody was ready to give Tennessee up for dead, and the Volunteers might be the SEC’s biggest turnaround of 2019. Yes, the loss to Alabama was ugly, but the offense showed up big time against South Carolina and put UT back into the bowl hunt.

7. Kentucky (4-4, beat Missouri 29-7)

Winning a second SEC game with a wide receiver at quarterback … well, it’s the reason that Mark Stoops is the defending SEC Coach of the Year. Given the injury issues at quarterback, a fourth consecutive bowl season for the Wildcats would be astounding.

6. Texas A&M (5-3, beat Mississippi State 49-30)

At this point, A&M looks like the best of the rest — the multitude of teams outside the SEC’s solid top five. Their schedule is tough, but the Aggies are a decent team.

5. Georgia (6-1, off)

With that (increasingly) ugly South Carolina loss on their schedule, it’s hard to move an inactive Georgia team up the ladder this week. That said, if the Dawgs take care of business against the Gators, we can go back to talking about their SEC title chances.

4. Auburn (6-2, lost to LSU 23-20)

The Tiger offense just wasn’t quite up to the challenge, which was a shame, because the defense did a masterful job of bending but not breaking against LSU. Auburn could still make the SEC race interesting, but their offense (or lack thereof) will tell the tale.

3. Florida (7-1, off)

The Gators could well take control of the East with a victory this Saturday over Georgia. There has been some smoke and mirrors involved, but Florida has answered the bell this season.

2. Alabama (8-0, beat Arkansas 48-7)

We moved Alabama down last week just because of how impressive LSU had been. But Alabama had a taking-care-of-business win over the Razorbacks and looked somewhat immune to the sloppiness which could define their match-up with LSU. How healthy will Tua be?

1. LSU (8-0, beat Auburn 23-20)

It was a sloppy win, but another big win. There’s only one thing that will settle LSU/Bama, and that’s the match-up on the field. That said, the Tigers were fairly sloppy against Auburn, and they can’t afford to continue on that path.