SEC Power Rankings after Week 1: Well, hello, LSU.
What a Week 1 it was, unless you happen to be a Tennessee fan. The SEC in general kicked butt, took names, and leveled opponents in route to a 13-1 opening week. Sure, six of those opponents were FCS schools, but at the same time, the SEC knocked off two Top 10 opponents.
Barring an unthinkable collapse, SEC West will close Week 1:
7-0
4-0 vs. other Power 5s
2-0 vs. other Power 5s in top 10.— Chris Wright (@FilmRoomEditor) September 3, 2018
In a week where almost everybody won, it’s hard to rank the squads of the SEC. But it’s what we do, so here are your week one SEC power rankings. Bear in mind, as ever, our rule is that we don’t necessarily rank teams on where we think they’ll end up, but on what they’ve showed us so far.
14. Arkansas (1-0, beat Eastern Illinois, 55-20)
Sure, Arkansas won its opener by 35 and passed the ball all over the field. But if you go deeper into the stat sheet, there are some scary things here. Eastern Illinois, which went 6-5 as an FCS team in the Ohio Valley Conference last year, had more first downs than Arkansas, 21-18, and outrushed the Razorbacks, 127-80. Sure, EIU lost 5 fumbles, but some gaudy passing stats against a woeful secondary are hiding some weaknesses that the daunting West will expose. Somebody has to be No. 14, and while Arkansas didn’t play the worst game of the week, they look like a team that will get exposed.
13. Tennessee (0-1, lost to West Virginia, 40-14)
UT played the worst game of the week and was miles behind a very decent West Virginia team. The good news is that the next two on this list are teams UT could beat on a given day, which after an 0-8 SEC season and a start like this, is no small consolation.
12. Kentucky (1-0, beat Central Michigan, 35-20)
Kentucky’s defense played better than the score suggests, holding CMU to 255 total yards and 3.0 yards per carry. Kentucky’s passing game was unspeakably bad, creating turnover after turnover and nearly negating a 299-yard rushing performance. That won’t fly in the SEC.
11. Vanderbilt (1-0, beat MTSU, 35-7)
This was a workmanlike effort that is probably indicative of about the ceiling of Vandy performances. Even at their best, the Dores won the yardage battle by 52 and gave up more first downs than they gained.
10. Missouri (1-0, beat UT-Martin, 51-14)
There’s a big gap between Vandy and Mizzou. The Tigers passed all over the field and looked reasonably good on defense against an outmatched opponent. How will either of those hold up in the SEC? We don’t know yet. Because we couldn’t learn much, they’re ranked No. 10, when they could easily be, say, No. 6.
9. Florida (1-0, beat Charleston Southern, 53-6)
Mizzou, Florida and South Carolina all essentially played the same game in Week 1 —they each played terrible opponents, and dominated easily. You could draw any of these three out of a hat and feel pretty much identical about their chances. UF passed well, ran acceptably, and played good defense. They also played an FCS team with no real passing game.
8. South Carolina (1-0, beat Coastal Carolina, 49-15)
This ranking is less a case of Carolina doing something wrong — they didn’t — than it is a case of the West just lighting people up. Carolina showed impressive balance, rushing for 263 yards and passing for 294, and looked like a team that could well end up second in the East again.
7. Ole Miss (1-0, beat Texas Tech, 47-27)
The 336 yards passing didn’t surprise us, but Scottie Phillips’s 204 rushing yards did. Defensively, Ole Miss can’t give up 486 yards in the SEC West and win … but they dominated a reasonably decent Power 5 program. That will get them style points over the three teams ranked just behind them.
6. Texas A&M (1-0, beat Northwestern State, 59-7)
758 yards. Sure, it was Northwestern State, but that was impressive. Any time your rushing yardage (503) doubles your opponent’s total offensive yardage (251), you did some things well.
5. Mississippi State (1-0, beat Stephen F. Austin, 63-6)
The Bulldogs opened up a can of something or other on Stone Cold Stephen F. Austin. No Fitzgerald was no problem for Joe Moorhead as State rolled up 618 yards without their starting QB. They could compete for the East title — and might well end up 4th in the West. Life isn’t always fair, but our power rankings try to be.
4. Georgia (1-0, beat Austin Peay, 45-0)
Calm down, UGA fans. No, you didn’t do anything wrong. You just played Austin Peay, and the schools above you demonstrated their skills against much better competition. There’s no reason to think UGA doesn’t end up No. 2 in these rankings, and we’ll be watching next week to see if they could move up immediately.
3. Auburn (1-0, beat Washington, 21-16)
This is the kind of win that will carry some extra weight in the CFP selection process, which by the way, now would include Auburn. The Tigers have to run the ball better and did give up nearly 300 yards passing, but their defense made the big plays it had to make, and Jarrett Stidham gives the offense just enough punch to keep plowing on.
2. LSU (1-0, beat Miami, 33-17)
Miami probably isn’t very good, but LSU looked like it was. The Tigers were outgained, and Chapter 1 of Joe Burrow’s LSU career was pretty pedestrian, but when LSU’s defense plays like this, they’re a factor in the West on any given Saturday. Or Sunday.
1. Alabama (1-0, beat Louisville 51-14)
The Tide outrushed Louisville 222-16. When you add in Tua Tagovailoa, it’s just unfair. Alabama really didn’t play terribly well and absolutely destroyed a competent Louisville team. What if they don’t have 111 yards in penalties, miss an extra point and a short field goal, and pull their stud QB to play the backup?
And that’s the big question…………
Is LSU that good or is Miami that bad?
Week 3 at Auburn will be very interesting.
The answer is neither. The game only proves LSU was better than Miami last night. And not by much, in my opinion. LSU played pretty much error free and got some breaks. Miami screwed up more. They won’t all be that easy for LSU. I expect LSU will lose to Auburn. They usually lose at Auburn.
Great win by lsu first of all, but they are not the second best team in the SEC. Watching Washington vs Auburn im convinced that the huskies will win the pac 12. After watching Miami vs LSU im convinced Miami is at best a 7 or 8 win team. It may be stupid on my behalf but i personally think a closer game would have made LSU look better in my eyes. With all that being said i cant wait for the game in 2 weeks, our schedule just keeps getting tougher.
Ole Miss beats a power 5 program by 20 but you have Georgia, Miss. St., and TaM ahead of them for beating Austin Peay, Stephen Austin and Northwestern St.? Makes perfect sense.
Actually it does. You can’t drop those teams just because they pounded on lesser opponents. Now if one or more start dropping Power 5 games then Ole Miss can move up the ladder.
I assume it’s because Georgia would curbstomp Ole Miss
Not sure that assumption is even valid. That Ole Miss offense would score some points, even on GA. I think a GA/Ole Miss contest would be a shoot out with GA winning by a score or two.
Uhhhhh I’m no UGA fan but….. No.
Ole Miss GAVE UP 486 yards, 27 points and a fumble among many other things against a less than stellar Big 12 Texas Tech. Now things would been different if they’d be playing a 2008 caliber Mike Leach TT but just go ahead and face it. You know Ole Miss is going to go at best 7-5. I bet you think Wet Virgina is going to win the ACC because they beat up on an SEC Tenn in Knoxville. Take it easy “Land Shark”
Swp1120- Unless your response is just playing dumb- your comment loses all validity as West Virginia is in the Big 12, and they played Tenn in neutral site Charlotte, NC. Other than that I could’ve sworn Ole Miss was predicted to play in a shootout, so anything less of that should be impressive to our defense- according to predictions talk that is.
Let’s not pretend that TT doesn’t have a top 20 offense every year. We gave up a lot of yards, but stepped up when it counted.
Yeah, maybe they should rate Ole Miss #1, simply because they beat horrible Texas Tech. Georgia is ranked in the top 5 of every national poll, and you think beating the eternally awful Kliff Kingsbury squad should get you ranked ahead of them, simply because they opened with a cupcake?
Switch South Carolina and TAMU
After next week they’ll be switching UGA and South Carolina.
The man gives your squad a compliment by saying you guys should be ranked at least 6th instead of 8th and that’s your response? Lol. Next week should be a good game tho, good luck to y’all.
And after next week Tulane will still have more SEC championships that USCjr
It really is okay to dream… Enjoy your week… :)
Switch them based on what?
There are some high schools in Texas that have bigger stadiums than Eastern Illinois.
A little school that held the Hogs to 80 yards rushing , while the Hogs win by 35.
Whats wrong with that picture ?
Plenty… That’s why we were ranked below a team that lost by 3+ TD’S. Our porous Oline and bend but don’the break D won’the fare well in conference play.
Still think you guys didn’t deserve the cellar.
You talk about the weak opponents of Florida, So Carolina, and Mizzou. What about those of UGA, Miss St, and A&M???
Yeah, those were cupcake games, too. Happy?
They never said a word about S. Carolina’s opponent. They did in fact mention A&M’s opponent as being a cupcake. Are you sure you read the same article as the rest of us?
We want Bama! We’re gonna get it either way, we might as well want it….
LOL well let’s settle for we want etsu and El Paso. Time for us to get our cupcakes and try to fix a few things. Am also anxious to see how Frank’s and Florida play the next 2 weeks. To me that Florida game either sets the stage for a 1-2 win sec slate and a 4-5 win season or a possible 6 win bowl eligible season.
Good analysis. What did anyone expect against #17 team in the country? My prediction for several weeks has been: New offensive, new defense, underdeveloped players by Botch with only a few weeks to learn from Pruitt’s staff. I predicted 5 win season and hoping for 6. Killer schedule in the season middle, potentially busted up team for the final “easier” part leaves me with 4 wins maybe 5 if we don’t lose too many to injuries before the final run or maybe 6 if we catch a break on injuries AND if the defensive and offensive reorganization gels much faster than has happened at most teams over the years.
All joking aside, there were some bright spots to look at. JG looked more like a leader, line finally settled down, WR actually caught the ball, and RBs looked solid. However, the DBs looked rocky and flat footed
All joking aside, there were some bright spots to look at. JG looked more like a leader, line finally settled down, WR actually caught the ball, and RBs looked solid. However, the DBs looked rocky and flat footed
LOL.
This should be a college gameday sign
Another flawed opinion of power rankings. Let’s wait until week three or four.
By then South Carolina will have lost to UGA and maybe their 5th straight to kentucky (LMAO) so good call
It is interesting how winning shows more about a person’s class than losing. I have noticed a propensity for Georgia fans, which I used to consider pretty classy, to have let success go to their heads and show a distinct lack of class after all. They remind me of the punk walking down the street, after beating someone up, complaining to his buddy that the victim hit him with his crutch.
Thanks for the insight…Back to the cellar.
That is why we call those people warm-weather fans, good sir.
Good luck, Vols. I like your dog.
I thought Alabama looked really-really good; but… They can be thrown on. I expect Ole Miss to score 24, maybe 31 points on the Tide. Problem is – they tied will put up 45 or 52. I think Miami might be an 8 win team. LSU isn’t quite as good as they looked; but they can and I think ‘will’ build off of this. Auburn did just enough against a good team. Auburn’s problem? O-Line and lack of depth at that position. They need to be very ‘lucky’ with the injury bug and get enough of a run game going to keep their QB upright. There ‘D’ was a good as advertised. UT – looks like they may have some Jekyll and Hyde moments this season. One thing is for sure – they had better tighten up that secondary or they are going to get scored on early and often by Auburn, Bama and Georgia. As for the rest of the conference – cupcakes – who knows…
The Tide – sorry… Typing too fast.
Oh h*ll naw the disrespect yall show us….
Well, if GA didn’t suck so bad…
(Actually only SC fans seem to show lack of respect to GA. But most of us hold little respect for their last opponent. Just as most of us don’t get too excited about beating SFA or Charleston Southern or Northwestern State or…)
nah The media not a specific fan base! lol
The 1st game of the season rarely sheds any light on the rest of the season. it takes several games to see the pattern emerge. In our case though, it might be pretty indicative of my prior Vol predictions.
Why so many fans care where they are ranked after week 1 I dont get. It will all be hashed out on the field. Great to see the SEC represent though.
Once again, you overlook Kentucky because you forget to include that after Terry Wilson, whose decisions cost us 4 turnovers in the first half, was replaced with Gunnar Hoak, we looked great. If he’s our starter, we’ll do good and I hope it’ll shut up the moron who keeps omitting that fact, because it seems like you clearly didn’t actually watch the game.
You should probably take that with a grain of salt. Teams tend to do well in a game when they switch QB’s because it throws the defense off their game plan. In the future teams will be preparing for Hoak knowing he’ll either start or will likely seem game time. I wouldn’t expect it to be so easy next time around.
It was apparent the Cats didn’t want to show its potential.
Wilson’s quarterback rating of 33.7 certainly was no indication of how great he is going to be. (Isn’t he nicknamed ‘Touchdown Terry’?)
Hoak’s rating was 103 but we’re saving him for the Tennessee game.
If Florida doesn’t play an OUTSTANDING game, and beat the Cats, look for both ‘our version of Stoops’ and Cal both get million dollar raises.
If the Cats lose big, Mitch won’t need to use but the lower deck, on one side, to seat the fans for the Murray game.
C’mon man, Florida doesn’t have to play an “OUTSTANDING” game to beat the Cats. UF has proved that over the past 7-8 years. I’m not saying the Cats can’t win this Saturday, UK has improved a lot over the past decade and has become a decent team that can challenge teams in the SEC regularly. There is just still a talent gap that allows UF to have some leeway in needing to play “OUTSTANDING” to beat the Cats.
Plus, you don’t think that UGA, UF, SCar, etc also didn’t want to show their potential either? They all played pretty vanilla offensive schemes so as not to give anything away going into the first SEC game. Case in point, all offseason Gator fans have heard Mullen talk about playing 2 back sets since RB is an area of strength. There wasn’t one play that I can recall that had 2 backs during the Charleston Southern game.
Pretty fair, except I’d say LSU maybe at #4 and flip South Carolina and Ole Miss.
Meaning Auburn #2 and Georgia #3…