The SEC is hitting its sorting phase, and the league’s crowded top tier is about to get even messier. With 10 SEC teams in the AP Top 25, the next stretch will start trimming the field, and the first College Football Playoff rankings release Tuesday night only adds to the pressure.
Georgia and Kentucky sit at the top of the conference at 5-1, while Alabama, Texas, Ole Miss, Tennessee, LSU and Missouri are all clustered behind them with two SEC losses apiece. The league’s next round of heavyweight matchups arrives Saturday, when Texas visits Missouri at noon, Alabama goes to LSU at 3:30 p.m., Kentucky travels to Tennessee at 6:15 p.m. and Georgia heads to Ole Miss at 7:30 p.m. Another week later, Missouri is at Georgia and Texas is at LSU on Nov. 14, giving the league even more opportunities for the contenders to knock each other around.
The SEC also enters this week with a strong nonconference case to make. The league is 10-2 against other Power 4 opponents, while the Big 12 is 6-7, the ACC is 6-11 and the Big Ten is 4-10.
Seven of the eight SEC teams playing Saturday are coming off wins, with Tennessee the lone exception. The Volunteers are coming off a bye.
South Carolina is the team making the loudest move right now. The Gamecocks have won three straight, with two of those victories coming against ranked opponents in Tennessee and Florida.
They’ve also done damage away from home, winning two of those three on the road at Florida and Oklahoma. LaNorris Sellers has been the engine, most recently throwing for 301 yards and running for 96 more in a 42-25 road win at Oklahoma.
And with two of South Carolina’s first three losses coming in overtime against Kentucky and Mississippi State, the Gamecocks have earned a place in the conversation with just about anybody in the league.
Georgia is surging, too. The Bulldogs are back up to No. 2 in the polls, and the bigger story is how they finally looked like the physical defense plenty expected from the start.
Linebacker Chris Cole is drawing attention as a potential top-five NFL Draft pick because of his sideline-to-sideline range and reliable tackling in space. On offense, Mike Bobo’s group is second in the SEC in third-down conversion rate at 51.6 percent, even with a dialed-down game plan built around physicality.
That approach became even more conservative after Georgia built a 24-0 halftime lead.
Kentucky has quietly put itself in a strong spot, even if the attention in the state may be drifting toward basketball with the Wildcats set to open their regular season Tuesday. First-year coach Will Stein has flown under the radar despite a No. 8 ranking and an overtime win over then-Top 10 LSU on Oct.
- The closing schedule is no joke, though, with games at Tennessee, home against Florida, at Missouri and home against Louisville.
LSU is also trending up after two wins and a bye week as it prepares for Alabama at Tiger Stadium. Lane Kiffin has complained about the Tigers and Tide being slotted for 3:30 instead of 7:30, but Alabama has won six of the past seven night games in Baton Rouge. LSU may also get a boost from linebacker Whit Weeks, who could return from a leg injury that has kept him out since Week 4, while quarterback Sam Leavitt got a needed Saturday off to rest a hamstring injury he has been playing through.
Texas handled business against a Mississippi State team missing Kamario Taylor, rolling 31-3 to finish a sweep of the Magnolia State after beating Ole Miss 34-27 the week before. Arch Manning was sharp, completing 16 of 20 passes for 220 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions.
At the other end of the board, Vanderbilt is sliding back to the bottom of the league at 0-5 in SEC play. Clark Lea, who somehow won SEC Coach of the Year the past two seasons, isn’t on track for that again.
Freshman quarterback Jared Curtis, the longtime Georgia commit who flipped to Vanderbilt right before signing day, has taken his share of lumps. He ranks 12th in the SEC in passing efficiency at 134.0 and has thrown eight interceptions and eight touchdowns.
Mississippi State’s season has also taken a major hit. Kamario Taylor, who opened the year healthy and making headlines, is out for the rest of the season with a toe injury that will require surgery.
Jeff Lebby’s Bulldogs started with a promising 38-13 road win over Minnesota, then beat current Top 25 teams South Carolina 41-34 and Missouri 31-24. But Taylor was hurt in the Missouri game, wasn’t the same in a 56-23 loss to Alabama the next week, and then attempted only five passes before leaving the Oct. 24 home loss to Oklahoma, 23-15.
In Other News...
Georgia Enters A Huge Week With Playoff And Injury Questions
Georgia has reached the stretch of the season where every week seems to carry a little more weight, and this one brings both postseason intrigue and a fresh round of injury questions. The Bulldogs have already played two-thirds of their regular season and SEC slate, and the defense keeps drawing notice, with Chris Cole and Gabe Harris earning SEC weekly honors after standout performances.
Kirby Smart addressed a wide range of topics in his weekly press conference, from player availability to the broader rhythm of the schedule, just as the first College Football Playoff rankings are about to be unveiled. Georgia could land as high as No. 2 when the initial list is released, while the Bulldogs basketball programs offered a quick lift around campus with season-opening wins over NC Central and West Georgia. [Read more 🡒]
Georgias Best Shot At A Home Night Game Is In Jeopardy
Georgias Nov. 14 meeting with Missouri is now in the SECs late-afternoon-or-night window, but the exact kickoff still hangs in the balance. The league announced the game will start either at 3:30 p.m. or 7:30 p.m. EST, and for Georgia fans hoping for one of the more electric atmospheres in Sanford Stadium, the night option is the one worth watching.
The catch is that Georgia is not the only SEC team chasing that slot. Texas at LSU is also in the mix, and the league will wait until after this weekends games to lock everything in. Since the SECs new media rights deal began in 2024, Georgia has landed fewer home night games than LSU, so the Bulldogs best shot at another one is tied not just to their own result against Missouri, but to how things shake out elsewhere in the conference. [Read more 🡒]
Georgia Faces One Ole Miss Problem That Could Decide Everything
Georgias trip to Ole Miss in November already looks like one of the most important games on the schedule, and the Rebels have a quarterback who gives the matchup a very different feel. Trinidad Chambliss made an impression against Georgia last season, and he has carried that momentum into this year while helping Ole Miss pile up production through the air and on the ground.
For Kirby Smarts defense, the challenge is not just containing a productive passer, but dealing with an offense that has been efficient in several areas and can stress a defense in multiple ways. Road games in the SEC are hard enough without a quarterback who can extend plays and keep drives alive, which is why Chambliss is shaping up as the one Ole Miss problem Georgia cannot afford to let grow. [Read more 🡒]