SEC Power Rankings - Week 1

GEORGIA - No. 3 Iowa is second nationally in scoring defense, allowing 11.6 per game … which is a full touchdown more than Georgia. Yeesh!

ALABAMA - Nick Saban punks down a former assistant for the 24th consecutive time, yet the Tide plays second fiddle to the ‘Dawgs in the initial Power Rankings — fire his ass!

FLORIDA - Dan. Mullen. Loses. Dan Mullen loses. Dan Mullen loses. Dan Mullen loses.

OLE MISS - Lane Kiffin, in his growing maturity, won’t risk another “popcorn” comment prior to meeting No. 13 Arkansas this weekend, but an 0-2 divisional start would bury the Rebs in the SEC West

ARKANSAS - Ultimately, the ‘Hogs may end up having the nation’s prickliest schedule, but their sternest test to date last weekend reminded us all that Sam Pittman’s program still has a ways to travel

KENTUCKY - The blue-collar ‘Cats — pun intended — won’t scare Georgia for the East crown, but their ability to play well in unspectacular fashion across all three phases should frighten everyone else on the schedule

TEXAS A&M - The preseason Top 10 darlings didn’t help their cause with unimpressive wins against Colorado and New Mexico; that’s nothing compared to what should happen this weekend against ‘Bama, inevitably the Aggies’ third straight loss

AUBURN - The Tigers arguably lay claim to the most legit defeat of the young season (at No. 4 Penn State); toppling Georgia this weekend at Jordan-Hare would give them the most disruptive victory — one that could reverberate for weeks to come

TENNESSEE - I weep at the certainty that last week’s woodshedding of Mizzou told us less about the Vols in Year 1 of the Heupel Experiment than it did the Tiger D’s spiral toward unprecedented ineptitude

MISSISSIPPI STATE - The Bulldogs are a couple of field goals away from being at least 4-1 entering their bye week; instead, they’re staring .500 in the eye with Alabama up next

LSU - Save for some horrendous tackling on Bo Nix, the good news is, the Tigers played well enough to nearly take down No. 18 Auburn last week. The bad? The game was the first of sixth straight against ranked opponents.

SOUTH CAROLINA - The league’s most vanilla team has milque-toasted their way to a winning record, but Shane Beamer has done so by keeping true to the family name: the Gamecocks rank third in the nation with their three blocked kicks

MISSOURI - In attendance against the Vols, I was handed an airplane bottle of whiskey by a visiting fan; generous, for sure, but the effects wore off long before Tennessee was forced to convert a third down

VANDERBILT - I’m not going to take the time to research why Vandy kicker Joseph Bulovas opted to transfer from Alabama, but the stars aligned for the kid last week, as the ‘Dores staved off relegation from the FBS for a week, nipping winless UConn on Bulovas’ last-second boot after blowing a double-digit, fourth-quarter lead