First and foremost, I must admit that I have a love/hate relationship with rankings in general. On one hand, they’re fun and easy conversation starters. On the other hand, they’re wildly subjective and are rarely rooted in any form of truth. Not only that, but they tend to serve as a source of anger and offence to opposing fan bases, even your own fan base if you’re not pumping sunshine. And yet, here I am, providing you with the week 1 power ranking of what I believe to be the best conference in all of college football: The SEC.
The logic here is simple. The stable and more established SEC programs will be ranked higher on this list, whereas the schools that have first-year and second-year coaches will be ranked a little lower. If a school has a new starter at QB, then that could potentially cause that school to drop in the ranking.
It’s very important to note that the power rankings aren’t a prediction of how these teams will finish the 2022 season. It only serves as my current perception of each team. In other words, the power rankings can look drastically different a month from now. As a matter of fact, I’m counting on it.
Week 1 Power Rankings
With that said, here are SEC Power Rankings going into week 1.
- Alabama
- Georgia
- Texas A&M
- Arkansas
- Tennessee
- Kentucky
- Mississippi State
- LSU
- Auburn
- Florida
- Ole Miss
- South Carolina
- Missouri
- Vanderbilt
Now, let’s address the eleph….I mean tigers in the room: why is Auburn ranked 9th, and why is LSU ranked so high based on the explanation above?
Well, let’s start with the orange and blue tigers first. When you factor in how the 2021 season ended for Auburn, as well as the offseason drama that ensued, many pundits have prophesied doom and gloom by predicting that Auburn will do worse in 2022. Auburn was even voted to finish last in the West at SEC Media Days in July. However, I’m simply not buying it. Don’t get me wrong, there are legit concerns that remain on the offensive side of the ball. However, I expect Auburn to actually take a step forward in year 2 of the Harsin era. Although LSU hasn’t been the same since their magical 2019 championship run, this is still an incredibly talented squad that upgraded its coaching staff. LSU may be vulnerable this year, but they should not be taken lightly.
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