SEC Power Rankings after Week 3
SEC football never disappoints, and that was the case again in Week 3. The conference scored some big nonconference wins, while the league matchups on the slate all provided some excitement and drama.
This coming week provides even more excitement, but before we turn the page to Week 4, we need to assess what happened in Week 3.
Here’s a look at our post-Week 3 SEC power rankings:
16. Mississippi State (1-2 overall, 0-0 in SEC)
Previous ranking: 16
This week: 41-17 L to Toledo
Next week: vs. Florida
Yikes. To not only lose at home to Toledo, but to get absolutely boat-raced by the Rockets, is embarrassing. This is a big-time low point for the Bulldogs’ program. It’s going to be tough for this team to win any SEC games this year, but the Bulldogs have perhaps their best chance this Saturday when a disappointing Florida squad visits Starkville. Speaking of the Gators …
15. Florida (1-2, 0-1)
Previous ranking: 15
This week: 33-20 L to Texas A&M
Next week: at Mississippi State
That’s right, this Saturday will feature the 2 worst teams in the SEC, by my estimation. Will Billy Napier still be the Gators’ coach by that point? That remains to be seen. My guess is yes, but things move quickly in the SEC. There’s talent on this Florida roster, including QBs Graham Mertz and DJ Lagway, but the Gators aren’t being put into positions to win by their coaching staff.
14. Vanderbilt (2-1, 0-0)
Previous ranking: 8
This week: 36-32 L at Georgia State
Next week: at Mizzou
Oh no, Vanderbilt. Don’t let an exciting start to the season end like this! The Commodores made an unusual trip to Atlanta to face Georgia State on Saturday and came away with a bad loss. QB Diego Pavia continues to impress, but the defense didn’t get many stops against the Panthers. A tough road trip to Mizzou awaits to kick off SEC play this weekend.
13. Kentucky (1-2, 0-1)
Previous ranking: 13
This week: 13-12 L to No. 1 Georgia
Next week: vs. Ohio
Yes, it was frustrating to lose this game when Kentucky could have potentially scored the upset of the century. But this was a nice bounce-back game for a team that looked lost last week against South Carolina. There are no moral victories in this sport, but Kentucky should be proud of its defensive effort against the top team in the nation. And the offense will have a chance to get back on track this week against Ohio.
12. Auburn (2-1, 0-0)
Previous ranking: 14
This week: 45-19 W over New Mexico
Next week: vs. Arkansas
It’s tough to get too excited about Hank Brown’s debut as QB1. Yes, he looked great throwing for 235 yards, 4 touchdowns and 0 interceptions. But it was just back in Week 1 when Payton Thorne looked dominant and then crashed back to earth in a Week 2 loss to Cal. I’ll wait to see how Brown looks against Arkansas before I get too excited, but it was a solid debut.
11. South Carolina (2-1, 1-1)
Previous ranking: 11
This week: 36-33 L to No. 16 LSU
Next week: vs. Akron
Credit to the Gamecocks for starting the game strong and giving LSU all it could handle. But Shane Beamer was right in his postgame comments – the Gamecocks simply committed too many penalties to hold on for a win. They’ll have a chance to clean some things up this coming weekend against Akron.
10. Arkansas (2-1, 0-0)
Previous ranking: 10
This week: 37-27 W over UAB
Next week: at Auburn
This was not a convincing win for the Razorbacks by any means. They’ll need to be much better to beat Auburn on Saturday. But I want to talk more about Ja’Quinden Jackson. He’s electric. He put up 147 yards and a score on only 15 carries against UAB. The Hogs continue to churn out incredible running backs. Heck, one of them was a star for South Carolina on Saturday (Rocket Sanders). But Jackson is the real deal. Make sure to watch Saturday’s game to watch Jackson go head-to-head with Auburn’s Jarquez Hunter.
9. Texas A&M (2-1, 1-0)
Previous ranking: 12
This week: 33-20 W at Florida
Next week: vs. Bowling Green
Marcel Reed is the real deal. With QB Conner Weigman out, Reed stepped in and was magnificent in a win at The Swamp. Snapping a long streak of road losses was important for the Aggies, and Reed played a big part in that. If Weigman is still banged up this week, the Aggies can feel confident in Reed taking the field once again against Bowling Green.
8. Oklahoma (3-0, 0-0)
Previous ranking: 9
This week: 34-19 W over Tulane
Next week: vs. Tennessee
Oklahoma has won all 3 of its games thus far, but it has looked far from convincing. The defense looks elite, but the offense has question marks. The Sooners need to find answers to those questions in the next week if they’re going to compete with a red-hot Tennessee squad, though. Josh Heupel brings his Vols to town on Saturday and College GameDay will be in attendance for the Sooners’ first-ever SEC contest.
7. LSU (2-1, 1-0)
Previous ranking: 7
This week: 36-33 W at South Carolina
Next week: vs. UCLA
Can LSU play one normal football game? It doesn’t seem that way, right? Credit to the Tigers for fighting back from a big deficit to score an important road win, though. Nothing was going right for the Tigers through the first quarter and a half, but then the tide started turning. Can LSU build off of this win against UCLA this week?
6. Mizzou (3-0, 0-0)
Previous ranking: 5
This week: 27-21 W over No. 24 Boston College
Next week: vs. Vanderbilt
This was a tough, gritty home win over a ranked Boston College squad, but the Mizzou offense just seems … off. Players on both sides of the ball committed some dumb penalties and Brady Cook hasn’t been able to connect on his deep throws very often this year. I still think this is a really good Mizzou team, but I’m waiting to see the Tigers put it all together at once.
5. Alabama (3-0, 0-0)
Previous ranking: 6
This week: 42-10 W at Wisconsin
Next week: OFF
The Crimson Tide, much like the Texas Longhorns last week, went into Big Ten territory and came away with a dominant win. Jalen Milroe accounted for 5 touchdowns – 3 passing and 2 rushing. He has to be considered at or near the top of everyone’s Heisman Trophy watch list at this point.
4. Tennessee (3-0, 0-0)
Previous ranking: 4
This week: 71-0 W over Kent State
Next week: at Oklahoma
No, we didn’t learn much about the Vols from a blowout win over one of the worst teams in the FBS ranks. But it was a lot of fun to watch. And most importantly, the starters didn’t have to work too hard in this one. Now they’ll head to Norman to take on Josh Heupel’s alma mater with College GameDay in attendance. Tennessee’s offense vs. Oklahoma’s defense will be must-see TV.
3. Texas (3-0, 0-0)
Previous ranking: 3
This week: 56-7 W over UTSA
Next week: vs. UL-Monroe
Arch Manning is the real deal. Quinn Ewers is also the real deal. Steve Sarkisian has 2 elite quarterbacks on his roster while other schools scramble to find even one decent signal-caller. Ewers will likely have an extra week to rest his injury, as UL-Monroe shouldn’t provide much of a challenge for the Longhorns. The injuries that continue to pile up are a concern, though.
2. Ole Miss (3-0, 0-0)
Previous ranking: 2
This week: 40-6 W at Wake Forest
Next week: vs. Georgia Southern
When you win by 34 points on the road against a Power 4 opponent and all anyone can talk about is how sloppy you looked, you know you’re an elite team. The offense continues to roll, even if the Rebels did leave some points on the board against the Demon Deacons. Ole Miss beat Wake Forest so badly the Demon Deacons don’t want to come to Oxford in 2025 anymore.
1. Georgia (3-0, 1-0)
Previous ranking: 1
This week: 13-12 W at Kentucky
Next week: OFF
I really thought about bumping Georgia down to No. 3, but at the end of the day, I agree with Kirby Smart. Winning on the road in the SEC is hard. Despite what happened in Week 2 against South Carolina, Kentucky is a solid team. Ole Miss and Texas haven’t faced any road SEC challenges yet. So for now, the Dawgs hold on to the top spot. But that offense better figure some things out during the off week or else Georgia is going to fall out of the top spot soon.
Meet the new Vanderbilt, except without the gaudy SAT/ACT scores.
With very low scores, actually.
That insult notwithstanding, give it time. Coach Lebby will bring your program back to the national championship standard of old Moo State.
Wait a minute…
But seriously, he’s a good coach.
No Worries, Mississippi State is a founding member of the SEC, Stay as long as you want…
Texas went to the big house and won though. No beef with them at 1 right now. They have looked the best among the teams that have actually played anyone.
And yeah, they better figure out some things or they’ll do more than lose the top spot on some random power ranking. Fortunately with an extra week and coming off something like that Kirby has done pretty well.
I don’t know what happened to the dawgs this weekend but you kicked the tar out of Clemson in the first week. Every team has a Kentucky like game or two during the season.
UGA is really talented so 12-0 is very possible.
I had to re-send and change one word to get it past the algorithm. c r a p is the word.
Seems like Kentucky always has answer for Georgia when they come to Lexington. Kentucky pointed out some weaknesses for Georgia to focus on, those games make Georgia better. Nobody has challenged them yet.
I wouldn’t assign too much value to beating Michigan, or for beating any unknown opponents early in the year. The media is working 24/7/365 to convince you they know the unknowable qualities these programs are only sorting out each Sat. and if they played twice some of these games might go the other way. These ranking are just lazy journalism.
It’s been a weird first few weeks. Some of the results don’t make sense, but that’s just football. Our top 5 look pretty good so far. Our bottom doesn’t look very good though. It’s going to be a very interesting season.
The Vols looked great, but against possibly the worst team in FBS. I don’t see us jumping ahead of Bama who thumbed a decent Wisconsin team on the road.
Vols did look great…And regardless of whether it was against the best FBS team or the worst, the game still has to be played, & UT beat them like all great teams should beat an inferior opponent.
The only problem I have with Heupel is his ckn sht running up the score and going out of his way to embarrass the other teams. Him calling for an onside kick in the first quarter when they’re already up 30-0, who does that?
If I’m a TN fan, I don’t care but the fat man makes me sick. I hope he got a triple cheeseburger from Wendy’s for that nonsense.
Tennessee almost put the NCAA in jail for saying less. I’d watch my mouth or Heupel might hang 70 on you next.
That’s Heupel alright. And you haven’t seen his lowest life form yet.
Not taking anything away from Alabama’s impressive but unsurprising blowout but idk how decent this Wisconsin team is! It looks to me like this will be their first losing season in 22 or 23 years(the longest streak in the nation). They are going from a rough transition offensively going to a pro-style run-heavy offense to an air raid which i don’t think will workout. Plus they don’t have the benefit of playing in the easy Big Ten West anymore. This is a 4 or 5-win team
I loved how the Bama players were doing the “jump” cheer along with the fans!
UT at OK definitely looks like the best game next Saturday, I’m looking forward to it
Still don’t know about UT. There will be a pretty good test this weekend versus OU at their place. Both defenses have been playing well, so I don’t expect any 50 point scores.
I think you’re right. But OUr offense is not playing up to recent standards. Even though we’re at home, I think the real UT has an excellent shot. I hope I’m wrong. BTW, saxet sucks. That said, BOOMER!
This will be the game where we see if OU can run with the better teams in the SEC. OU’s oline is not very good so maybe it’s not a fair test.
Heipel is an OU guy and he will be throwing 50 yard bombs with 1 minute left in the game to run up the score.
The score is always 0-0. You must score on every possession. Heupel has sat QB1 in every game so far. Your anger at letting him get away is showing.
Two different ethical standards that always affect the game but more so in games where fortitude counts…. Like this game.
Winning at KY isn’t any harder than winning at Wisconsin or winning at KState or winning at Texas Tech. Sorry Adam, it just isn’t.
Agree
Missouri looks like they are rebuilding the starting line up, just my guess, and every week they look better. But it could also be the coaching staff being relatively inexperienced at actually coaching young players into more experienced performers. Whatever it is, stay the course and build your playbook!!!! You will stay ahead of the curve if you practice well.
Bama at 5th, & UGA still first is almost as ridiculous as it gets.
Uga at 1 is fine for now, but Ole Miss hasn’t played anyone with a pulse. How they are 2 is a head scratcher.
Bama is top 3 for sure. We find out Saturday about the Vols
Excuse me! Missouri is the only SEC football team who has beaten a ranked opponent this year. That makes them #1 in the SEC rankings right now. Where do you come up with you fiction football novels!
might wanna check that, pretty sure Michigan and Clemson are ranked, and btw, Mizzou’s ranked opponent, isn’t anymore.
Despite the fact that you are wrong about them being the only SEC team to beat a ranked opponent, it’s way too early in the season to start using the “beat ranked opponent” line. BC was barely inside the top 25 and were only there because they beat FSU and that win has aged like milk.
Quick fact check: NC State was ranked 24 when Tennessee hung 51 on them. They are obviously not ranked the week after! LOL
Texas should be 1, UGA-2, Bama-3, Tenn-4, Ole Miss-5, Mizzou-6, then the rest in the same order.
Mizzou and Ole Miss will be play-off bubble teams unless they’re somehow undefeated.
Mizzou has to earn 2 wins of the OU/Bama/Aggie games and of course win the others.
Ole Miss has to win 2 or 3 against UGA/OU/LSU and win the rest..
Ole Miss get Florida, MU Vandy and both play SC and MissST. It’s a pretty even sos, both have a clear route to the playoffs, it’s a matter of gettin it done.
also both Mizzou and Ole Miss play Arkie, of course if Miss wins the big 3 they will play in Atlanta probably vs the winner of the UGA/Bama game,, or Texas.
What a crock of stinky excuses for being grossly favorable to undeserving Georgia!
No support of facts for OMiss
Boston College proves Missouri should be ranked much higher, the schedule of some here proves they should be lower. Enjoy your good old boys prejudices while you can
There is no way you can have Kentucky where you have them and Georgia where you have them at the same time!
Every team in your top 5 is overrated
This his to be the worst list I’ve ever seen. The real rankings are:
1) Texas
2) Alabama
3) Ole Miss
4) Georgia
5) Tennessee
6) Missouri
7) Kentucky
8) TAMU
9) SCar
10) Auburn
11) Arkansas
12) Florida
13) Miss St
14) Vanderbilt
Chokelahoma at 10, Florida at 12