SEC power rankings after Week 4 are starting to sort the contenders from the teams still searching for answers, and Georgia is sitting alone at the top after another dominant run through the opening month. Elsewhere, Texas A&M and Texas both slid after flat showings, while Kentucky and Mississippi State made noise with wins that could change the conversation if they keep building on them.
Georgia keeps looking like the most complete team in the league, even if the start has been quieter than usual. The Bulldogs have been as dominant as anyone in the country, and more so, actually. They’ll draw more attention this week with their game against OU, but not enough people are talking about UGA as a real national title contender right now.
Ole Miss holds the No. 2 spot after proving it still has the best quarterback in the conference - and maybe in college football. Pete Golding keeps stacking results, but now comes the test: how does this team handle an emotional win and a trip to a difficult road setting in Gainesville?
LSU sits third after surviving a buzz saw against Ole Miss and nearly coming all the way back. The concern is that the Tigers couldn’t really capitalize on a secondary that had already been picked apart by the likes of Louisville, and now they’ve lost three contributors for at least the foreseeable future.
Texas A&M dropped to No. 4 after an uncharacteristic loss to Kentucky. The questions around Marcel Reed are still there, but the bigger shock was what happened on defense. The LSU matchup this weekend should help show whether the Aggies are really the team that showed up in the third quarter of that game, or if something else was at play.
Mississippi State moved up to No. 5 after Kamario Taylor outdueled LaNorris Sellers in Columbia in what was an exciting but under-the-radar SEC game. The Bulldogs own the conference’s top offense, and they’re about to get their first ranked-on-ranked game of the Jeff Lebby era. If they beat Missouri, the ceiling conversation is going to get very loud.
Texas comes in at No. 6, and the concerns around this group are not going away. The Longhorns had a lackluster win over UTSA, Arch Manning looked awful, and while the Ohio State result will keep buoying them for a while, this latest game pointed back toward the version of Texas that showed up for the first three quarters of that opener rather than the last one.
Alabama climbs to No. 7 after surviving a shaky start against Florida State and then settling in once the rain delays passed. Kalen DeBoer’s team exploded for 50 points on the Noles, but it also gave up 36 to an FSU offense that has looked anemic at times.
Tennessee sits eighth after handling Kennesaw State and turning its focus to a massive showdown with Texas this weekend. College Gameday will be there, and Josh Heupel has the schematic edge over Muschamp. The question is whether QB Faizon Brandon can execute the plan.
Florida checks in at No. 9 and keeps trending in the right direction on offense, but the defense has real issues after allowing nearly 40 to Auburn. The Gators now get a huge home chance against Ole Miss, with Jon Sumrall facing the kind of upset opportunity that can reshape a week.
Oklahoma falls to No. 10 after a rough offensive outing against New Mexico. The Sooners only won 14-6 at home, and the fan base is clearly turning on John Mateer and the offense. That performance was enough to knock them out of the AP top 25 ahead of a difficult stretch.
Kentucky jumps to No. 11 after its surprising win over Texas A&M, but the Wildcats still need more proof before moving much higher. It wasn’t a fluky result - things went almost exactly as Stein would have wanted, if I had to guess - but the next few weeks will show whether it was Kentucky making a statement or the Aggies stumbling.
Missouri lands at No. 12 after having more trouble than expected with Troy. Maybe it was a look-ahead spot with Mississippi State coming up, but getting dragged into a dogfight with the Trojans was not a great sign. The Tigers still have a chance to make a big move next week.
Auburn is No. 13 after fighting hard against Florida, and maybe even playing a little above itself. Still, the roster feels a lot like USF wearing Auburn jerseys, which is kind of the point. If Golesh can get top-level talent into this system, there’s room for success, but this team is not ready for the SEC yet.
South Carolina falls to No. 14 after wasting a two-touchdown lead over Mississippi State and losing anyway. LaNorris Sellers’ flaws are easier to hide in Kendal Briles’ offense at times, but there still hasn’t been much improvement where it matters most. The talent is there to make this a dangerous team, but the pressure around Beamer is growing fast.
Vanderbilt sits 15th after pulling off what might have been the luckiest win of the week against NC State. Jared Curtis looks like the real thing, but the roster around him is not close to getting Vanderbilt back to where it was.
Arkansas rounds out the rankings at No. 16, and the situation has already gone sideways after just three games of the Ryan Silverfield era. The Razorbacks got crushed by Georgia, and the Bulldogs’ defensive linemen were even doing drills with their own team during fourth-quarter timeouts - just salt in the wound.
In Other News...
Alabama Gets An Early SEC Reality Check In New AP Poll
The latest AP top 25 brought a fresh shakeup across the SEC entering Week 4, with Ole Miss win over LSU helping alter the leagues early pecking order and Florida sliding into the rankings after a win at Auburn. The movement reflected how quickly the conference landscape can change in September, especially with so many ranked teams already testing each other in pivotal matchups.
For Texas A&M, the update came with a cost after the loss to Kentucky, a result that pushed the Aggies down and renewed attention on their inconsistency on both sides of the ball. With several other teams lingering just outside the poll on votes received, the margin for error is already shrinking, and A&M will spend the next stretch trying to show it belongs back in the mix. [Read more 🡒]
Texas A&M Suddenly Has Two Problems Fans Cant Ignore
Texas A&Ms SEC opener against Kentucky was supposed to be a chance to settle in and build early momentum, but instead it left the Aggies with a familiar-looking reminder of how thin the margin can be in this league. Favored to win before kickoff, they fell 31-21 and spent much of the night chasing a game that kept slipping further away, especially after Kentucky found room to move in the third quarter and widened the gap.
There were a few encouraging signs on offense, with Mario Craver and KJ Edwards each providing some positive moments, but they were overshadowed by the bigger issues that kept showing up. Marcel Reeds interceptions added to the pressure, and the defensive performance was the kind of problem that tends to linger unless it gets fixed quickly, which makes the conversation around this team feel a lot more urgent after one conference loss. [Read more 🡒]
Texas A&M Suddenly Has A Backfield Problem Fans Feared
Texas A&Ms backfield took another hit late in the second quarter against Kentucky, when freshman running back KJ Edwards went down and did not return. Edwards had been part of the game plan before the injury, and his absence was immediate enough to be felt in a room that was already working through depth questions.
Mike Elko confirmed the injury after the game, and the bigger concern is what it means for the Aggies running back rotation moving forward. With multiple scholarship backs already injured, Texas A&M is left trying to piece together a position group that was supposed to provide stability, but now feels increasingly fragile just as the season pushes on. [Read more 🡒]