SEC Power Rankings: Clash of the Titans

You can argue that the East was decided last week with Georgia taking down Florida. Obviously, Missouri still has a say in it but... well, if the Missouri of the past two games shows up, they’re not going to win another game. As far as the West, two of the best teams in the nation - let alone the SEC - square off on Saturday in what will decide the the division (but not the Playoff!). Not a whole lot of movement after this past week’s games, but let’s check out the Power Rankings anyway!

Whatever happens in this game really isn’t going to shake up the Top Tier of the SEC at all, but certainly will set the stage for the winner to have some breathing room in the Playoff conversation.

All three of these teams are still flawed, but this is why recruiting is so important: running a limited offense with all 4- and 5-star kids means you can cover a lack of creativity and execution with raw talent. Florida and Auburn seem like the same team to me, at least at this point: excellent defense, underwhelming quarterback who can’t operate the offense as well as we’d like... still deadly on any given week. Georgia is still the best out of this tier but plays a style that allows any team to keep it close. Why did I point that out? No clue! Moving on.

No movement in Tier III this week because Missouri didn’t have the opportunity to be disappointing :( A&M and Missouri still seem a cut above Tier IV, simply because they have logged multiple performances at the 90% level or higher (3 for Mizzou, 2 for the Aggies) but still suffer from total funks— the difference being that A&M can win their funk games while Missouri hasn’t. The gap is closing between Tier III and IV, but these two are still above the rest.

Tennessee is reminding me of Missouri, circa 2017. Bobby Bowden famously said that in Year One, you lose. Year Two, you lose close. Year Three, you win more. Year Four, you win big. 2017 Missouri had a terrible losing streak that had the Tigers left for dead, but of course came back from the grave and followed up with the tremendous winning streak. Ever since their game against Georgia, Tennessee has been a spirited, feisty, messy but effective team. There might be a heat check at some point, but I don’t want any part of the Volunteers at this point in the season. The rest of this tier is spinning their wheels a bit, but there’s probably thee bowl bids out of this group.

Tier V is a sad place. I just hope each of these teams get one or two more wins.