With the third week of the 2019 season in the books, a handful of SEC teams have already kicked off conference play. Teams like Alabama and Georgia have looked like the contenders they were pegged to be in the offseason, while LSU is lighting it up on offense against non-conference opponents.

Some teams have looked terrible at times, and some SEC fan bases still have no idea what is in store for the rest of the season for their favorite team.

ESPN’s Bill Connelly releases his SP+ rankings every week, a ranking system which he created that he describes as a “measure of the most sustainable and predictable aspects of football”. Connelly’s ranking after Week 3 has three SEC teams ranked in the top five, with five total in the top 10.

Alabama sits at the top, above Clemson. In fact, Clemson falls to third in Connelly’s system, behind Georgia. LSU, Florida, and Auburn round out the other SEC squads in the top 10.

Connelly also has Texas A&M, Missouri, and Mississippi State in the top 15, despite both schools already picking up non-conference losses this season. Connelly mentions, however, that the numbers could still be skewed by preseason projection this early in the season.

Past the top 25 sits South Carolina at 27th, while Tennessee, Kentucky, and Ole Miss occupy 36th, 37th, and 38th, respectively. The SEC bottoms out with Arkansas all the way down to 61st, and Vanderbilt at 70th.

A few programs enter conference play this weekend, it will be interesting to see where Connelly’s system places some SEC teams after they start to beat up on one another.

  • No. 1 – Alabama
  • No. 2 – Georgia
  • No. 4 – LSU
  • No. 8 – Florida
  • No. 9 – Auburn
  • No. 11 – Texas A&M
  • No. 12 – Missouri
  • No. 13 – Mississippi State
  • No. 27 – South Carolina
  • No. 36 – Tennessee
  • No. 37 – Kentucky
  • No. 38 – Ole Miss
  • No. 61 – Arkansas
  • No. 70 – Vanderbilt