Coming off a Week 1 that seemed to invite the SEC haters to hate, Week 2 looked like a return to form for most of the league. Sure, some will note that half of the SEC teams played against either FCS schools or teams that might lose to a decent FCS team, but hey, take progress where it’s found.

Which brings us to our Week 2 SEC Power Rankings, where we again rank the SEC’s teams not on where we think they’ll end up, but on where they stand right now.

Here is where we’ve got them after two weeks:

14. Tennessee (0-2, lost to BYU 29-26)

The word was that last week was rock bottom for Tennessee. No, no, it wasn’t. A second straight loss, this time to BYU 29-26, has the Vols reeling.

13. Arkansas (1-1, lost to Mississippi 31-17)

Arkansas is learning that there are only so many Portland States you can schedule, and a not terribly competitive loss at Ole Miss wasn’t a good sign for the Razorbacks.

12. Vanderbilt (0-2, lost to Purdue 42-24)

Sure, Georgia and Purdue aren’t ideal opponents to open the season, but Vanderbilt’s defense has been underwhelming and the offense, while it did awaken in Week 2, didn’t do enough scoring to keep up. When the Commodores fall to 0-3 to start the season — they have LSU in two weeks after a bye  — they’ll have very little margin for error with further losses if they want to get bowl eligible.

11. Ole Miss (1-1, beat Arkansas 31-17)

Beating Arkansas is a win, and an SEC win at that, for Ole Miss. To have any kind of a season, the Rebels had to handle Arkansas, and they did just that. Where to from here?

10. South Carolina (1-1, beat Charleston Southern 72-10)

The Ryan Hilinski era began with a great effort on the ground by South Carolina. If the Gamecocks can run the ball like this all season, they’ll be fine. That said, they haven’t run the ball like this against a good team in many, many years, so we’ll wait to see it against big-time competition before we buy in too hard.

9. Missouri (1-1, beat West Virginia 38-7)

Which Missouri do we buy in on? This Week 2 version looked miles and miles better on defense in the 38-7 win over a decent West Virginia team, and while the offense played it somewhat close to the vest, this ground attack will open up some big plays for quarterback Kelly Bryant when they’re needed.

8. Kentucky (2-0, beat Eastern Michigan 38-17)

Kentucky was fine in its 38-17 win over Eastern Michigan, not overwhelming, but fine. But the presumed loss of quarterback Terry Wilson does hurt. Backup Sawyer Smith looked pretty good, but how will he look in SEC play? Check back in a week with Florida coming to town.

7. Mississippi State (2-0, beat Southern Mississippi 38-15)

Not unlike last season, Mississippi State has looked good out of the gate, but we’ll reserve judgment for the moment. It’s not a good sign to have quarterback Tommy Stevens and running back Kylin Hill banged up in this game, but the Bulldogs offense is looking much closer to what coach Joe Moorhead would like, especially compared to  last year’s team.

6. Texas A&M (1-1, lost to Clemson 24-10)

The Texas A&M defense was actually pretty sharp against the best team in the land, and few people can say that against No. 1-ranked Clemson. What was disconcerting is that quarterback Kellen Mond will get broken in half if the offensive line can’t protect him better. That said, it’s not like they play Clemson again. But you know that LSU, Alabama, et al, will cue up this tape.

5. Florida (2-0, beat UT-Martin 45-0)

This wasn’t a game that was going to show a ton, and Florida snoozed through the first half or so in its 45-0 rout of Tennessee-Martin. Next week’s game at Lexington against Kentucky should give us more information about what the Gators’ ceiling might be.

4. Auburn (2-0, beat Tulane 24-6)

Auburn showed some nice defense in its 24-6 win over Tulane, but this offense had a very underwhelming performance. It’s still hard to see the Tigers beating LSU, Alabama or Georgia like this.

3. Georgia (2-0, beat Murray State 63-17)

If you want a negative, Georgia did give up 17 points to a mediocre FCS offense and the opposing starting quarterback, Preston Rice, was 20-for-25 passing for 216 yards. That’s pretty much it. Other than a few minor hiccups in pass defense, they’re tough. And that Bulldogs running game, it’s sensational.

2. LSU (2-0, beat Texas 45-38)

So that LSU team that owned playing physical and running the ball instead passed for 471 yards against a top 10 team in Texas. It might be wrong to start looking forward to LSU at Alabama on Nov. 9, but we’re thinking about it.

1. Alabama (2-0, beat New Mexico State 62-10)

What did we expect to happen in Alabama’s 62-10 rout of New Mexico State? This game was exactly what we thought. That scoreless fourth quarter by the Crimson Tide offense will give Saban something to fix this week.