SEC Power Rankings After Week 11
The SEC never fails to disappoint. We had several exciting games in Week 11, including Ole Miss blowing out Georgia at home, Alabama routing LSU on the road, South Carolina taking some of the magic out of Vanderbilt’s season and Mizzou pulling off a late win over Oklahoma.
Even when we don’t have many particularly close scores, the SEC always provides entertainment.
Now we await the next College Football Playoff rankings on Tuesday night to see which SEC squads are within striking distance of a spot in the 12-team field.
Here’s a look at our updated SEC power rankings after Week 11:
16. Oklahoma (5-5 overall, 1-5 in SEC)
Previous ranking: 16
This week: 30-23 L to No. 24 Mizzou
Next week: OFF
The Sooners found a way to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. They had the game won, but allowed a touchdown pass and another TD on a fumble return to gift Mizzou a victory. The sorts of problems facing Oklahoma aren’t the kind that can be solved during an off week.
15. Kentucky (3-6, 1-6)
Previous ranking: 15
This week: OFF
Next week: vs. Murray State
The Wildcats should be able to win this weekend, as a truly awful Murray State team comes to Lexington. Murray State is 1-9 on the season. This could get ugly, but the real test will be whether or not Kentucky can carry this momentum into tougher games in the final couple of weeks of the season.
14. Mississippi State (2-7, 0-6)
Previous ranking: 14
This week: 33-14 L at No. 7 Tennessee
Next week: OFF
This is going to be a much better team next year. I know that doesn’t do much for fans this year, but progress is being made in Starkville. The off week will allow Jeff Lebby and his staff to do some major coaching, which will benefit the Bulldogs down the stretch.
13. Auburn (3-6, 1-5)
Previous ranking: 13
This week: OFF
Next week: vs. Louisiana-Monroe
Cupcake Week comes to Jordan-Hare Stadium this weekend. This should be a fairly easy win for the Tigers, but that was supposed to be the case last year when New Mexico State came to Auburn, too. Simply taking care of business on Saturday will go a long way toward building a modicum of confidence in Hugh Freeze moving forward.
12. Florida (4-5, 2-4)
Previous ranking: 11
This week: 49-17 L at No. 5 Texas
Next week: vs. LSU
This team is just so beaten up. It’s tough to watch the Gators without many of their top players. The good news? This team continues to fight for Billy Napier, who will return as head coach in 2025, it seems. Can they pick up any additional wins before the 2024 season ends? That remains to be seen.
11. Arkansas (5-4, 3-3)
Previous ranking: 12
This week: OFF
Next week: vs. Texas
Arkansas needs 1 more win to reach bowl eligibility. The Hogs should get there, as they get to take on Louisiana Tech next weekend. But you know they’ll also give Texas a good game. They might not win, but expect the Hogs to compete this coming Saturday.
10. Vanderbilt (6-4, 3-3)
Previous ranking: 8
This week: 28-7 L to South Carolina
Next week: OFF
The Commodores came crashing back to earth a little bit this week, falling by 3 touchdowns to South Carolina at home. Fortunately, Vanderbilt has its second bye week of the season to regroup after that blowout loss. We’ll see if the Commodores can pull off an upset win over LSU or Tennessee to close out the regular season.
9. Mizzou (7-2, 3-2)
Previous ranking: 10
This week: 30-23 W over Oklahoma
Next week: at South Carolina
Kudos to Drew Pyne for doing what Mizzou needed him to do in this game. The defense was the real star, but Pyne filled in admirably for the injured Brady Cook. The Tigers keep winning games. They don’t look good doing it, but a win is a win, especially in the SEC. Now they head to South Carolina for a big-time battle of the Columbias.
8. South Carolina (6-3, 4-3)
Previous ranking: 9
This week: 28-7 W at Vanderbilt
Next week: vs. Mizzou
South Carolina finally jumped into the AP Poll, leapfrogging the Missouri Tigers to become the higher-ranked team in this coming weekend’s Battle of the Columbias. The Gamecocks are firing on all cylinders at the moment. If Mizzou QB Brady Cook can’t play, the South Carolina defense should feast on backup Drew Pyne.
7. LSU (6-3, 3-2)
Previous ranking: 6
This week: 42-13 L to No. 11 Alabama
Next week: at Florida
Brian Kelly has now lost a home night game at LSU and it couldn’t have come at a worse time. This was likely a Playoff elimination loss for the Tigers, and to have it come in blowout fashion against rival Alabama is a tough pill to swallow. This offense needs to regroup in a big way before heading to The Swamp on Saturday.
6. Georgia (7-2, 5-2)
Previous ranking: 1
This week: 28-10 L at No. 16 Ole Miss
Next week: vs. Tennessee
Suddenly Georgia finds itself facing a must-win game to keep its Playoff hopes alive. QB Carson Beck has been awful the last few weeks. Trevor Etienne and the rushing attack aren’t giving him much help. The receivers are mediocre. The defense hasn’t been elite lately. Can this team stop the Vols? We’ll find out on Saturday in Athens, where College GameDay will be in town to preview the game.
5. Texas A&M (7-2, 5-1)
Previous ranking: 4
This week: OFF
Next week: vs. New Mexico State
Diego Pavia is no longer at New Mexico State, so this should be a relatively safe Cupcake Week opponent for the Aggies. However, they need to figure out their QB situation this weekend, as tough games at Auburn and vs. Texas loom large to close out the regular season. A spot in the SEC Championship Game is still at stake for A&M.
4. Ole Miss (8-2, 4-2)
Previous ranking: 7
This week: 28-10 W over No. 3 Georgia
Next week: OFF
Ole Miss is now a defensive juggernaut. That was quite an effort by the Rebels on Saturday in Oxford. The offense did enough against a tough Georgia defense, but Ole Miss was elite with its own defense. The narrative that Lane Kiffin can’t win the big game is now officially dead. The Rebels get a week off to rest up before they try to win their last 2 games and claim a Playoff spot.
3. Tennessee (8-1, 5-1)
Previous ranking: 3
This week: 33-14 W over Mississippi State
Next week: at Georgia
The Vols keep taking care of business. The offense still hasn’t had a great, breakout-type performance that we’ve seen in recent years. But Nico Iamaleava is gaining plenty of confidence. He’ll need to have his best game of the year on Saturday, as Tennessee heads to Athens with a chance to end the Bulldogs’ Playoff hopes.
2. Alabama (7-2, 4-2)
Previous ranking: 5
This week: 42-13 W at No. 15 LSU
Next week: vs. Mercer
When Jalen Milroe plays like he did at LSU, running for 185 yards and 4 touchdowns, the Tide are borderline unstoppable. Now they have a Cupcake Week foe to continue to build momentum heading into a manageable final stretch against Oklahoma and Auburn. This is a team that could be peaking at the right time come December and January.
1. Texas (8-1, 4-1)
Previous ranking: 2
This week: 49-17 W over Florida
Next week: at Arkansas
The Longhorns keep cruising! The schedule hasn’t been the toughest, but Texas just keeps winning, which is all you can do. The Horns head to Arkansas and then host Kentucky in 2 very winnable games before a regular-season finale against rival Texas A&M that has major Game of the Year potential.
Agree with most of these Adam. I do wonder your thought process on head to head results, i.e. UT beat UA, yet you have UA one spot higher.
It’s tough, for sure. For my power rankings, I use a “who would win tomorrow on a neutral field” method. Yes, the Vols pulled off an impressive win at home over Alabama and deserve all the credit they’re getting for it. I just think, based on what I saw in Baton Rouge on Saturday, that Milroe and the Tide would have a slight edge tomorrow against Tennessee on a neutral field.
Thank you for the response. That is reasonable and I understand better. Have a good rest of your week.
In other words, we probably shouldn’t play the game anymore and just go by who we think would win on a neutral field. In the playoffs, it’ll be interesting to see if we go with the winner of the games played at the opponents stadium or with the away team who would’ve won on a neutral field…..
The SDS boys are just a cheerleading squad. Missouri and Georgia are obviously tied for 6th on this list. Adam can’t be in the club unless he distorts facts. Georgia and Missouri are what the math says they are till one of them doesn’t win. The SDS writer clearly cannot handle journalism jobs and I encourage all the potential employers to note their lack of math skills
1. Texas
2. Bama
3. UT
4. Ole Miss
5. UGA
6. A&M
7. LSU
8. USC
9. Arky
10. Mizzou
11. Vandy
12. UF
13. AU
14. UK
15. OU
16. Miss St
This is a better ranking, although I would rank Ole Miss ahead of Tennessee, and South Carolina ahead of LSU. Don’t know what’s happened to LSU, but they’re a mess.
Arkansas over both Vandy and Mizzou? You wanna try and justify that.
Strength of schedule for Mizzou is an utter joke. You know it and I know it. You barely beat OU at home just two days ago. Arky has a win over UT. Justified.
More s for brains, Missouri and Georgia are tied for 6th on this this list. Since this is not a round robin conference there is no real ranking and any writer who reports anything but facts is a fiction novelist! Are you boys girly book writers or real journalist hopefuls? Which is it?
Man it just feels so strange to see that bottom 5. Still a lot to sort out. look at all the teams that could and probably will finish 10-2. The crazy tie breaking system sankey laid out may not even get to two teams. it may end up with an arm wrestling competition between 3-4 HC’s to see who goes to atlanta, not that it matters as much anymore…
I dont have a problem with where TN is ranked. If we beat ga then we deserve a higher ranking but even with ga playing some of their worst football in the last 5 years or so its a home game for them, after a terrible loss on the road, with a cfp spot on the line. They have deficiencies that we should be able to take advantage of and for the first time in a long time we have the better defense. Hoping we take advantage but I would not bet on this game regardless of a point spread. i dont think there is a score, other than a UT blowout win that would surprise me.
Funny I went from expecting Napier, Beamer and Pittman to be locks to be fired to none of those being fired and now venables and freeze in the biggest danger, with pittman still a possibility. Freeze probably survives one more season with that class he has coming in but that class wont do him much good on the field next season. Both he and Napier will be portal hunting early and often…
With all the ineptitude and turnovers on offense, the Dawgs are lucky the score wasn’t a reversal from last year (52 points by Ole Miss).
So I’m okay with #6.
I would be tempted to put the RebSharks ahead of UT even with two losses.
So I guess head to head and the rest of the regular season means nothing anymore?!
If a team hits a hot streak—or, has one fantastic game—we can just anoint them?
Well that’s much easier.
If we win next week, a tall order on the road against an angry Georgia team, it will take care of itself. This is the first time I think we have a defense that can slow them down, especially since their offense i struggling. Our offense has to play much better than we have recently to win. We can have our patented opening drive, marching down the field, then having a turnover and giving it up on downs without scoring. Seems like that happens every week now. We have to cash in any scoring opportunities, including open deep throws, that we get to win this game.
So you are thinking that Arkansas should be ahead of UT? Head-to-head is a two edged sword and can’t be applied universally
Gameday coming to Athens is the kiss of death….
That can be the right sentiment for both teams.
Recent history (20 years) favors the Bulldogs. Each season starts with this game being a loss for UT until proven otherwise in my mind.
I hope it’s a good game that goes UT’s way, but if not, hopefully they can finish 10-2. They won’t make the playoffs with that, but it’ll still be a good season.
Based on how everyone is playing right now South Carolina is probably top 5.
No kidding. I’m glad USC is not on UT’s schedule.
Yes, this is a garbage list. How is A&M three spots ahead of Carolina? TX, Bama, Ole Miss, Tenn and SC should be the top 5.
No worries until week 14. That’s when lists matter. SC just has to take care of business in their last three games.
Pyne stepped up in the pocket a few times and found the right target, he also threw the ball away a few time when he needed to instead of taking a sack.. both things Cook has always struggled at.
Good points
My humble opinion; Bama too high, UGA too low.
You have LSU ranked too high. Move South Carolina up a notch.
it’s been a bumpy ride on the Mizzou bandwagon this season eh Adam?
tu is simply not the best team in the conference. tu hasn’t beaten a ranked team. tu is going to get dog walked by the next physical team they play. Woo Pig.