Week 10 brought us some intriguing top 10 matchups and some eventual shakeups. Let’s take a look at the latest SEC power rankings going into week 11.
Week 11 Power Rankings
- Georgia
- Tennessee
- LSU
- Alabama
- Ole Miss
- Kentucky
- Mississippi State
- Arkansas
- South Carolina
- Florida
- Missouri
- Texas A&M
- Auburn
- Vanderbilt
The Contenders. Georgia is for real. That sounds silly to say, given that I’ve had them at the top of the power rankings for weeks. It’s just that Tennessee’s offense has looked unstoppable for weeks. In fact, Ike, B Wil and I picked the Volunteers to pull off the upset during the Mid-Week Rapport last week. Georgia didn’t just win the game, they dominated. It’s a little scary to know that a defense that lost so much talent from last year’s historically good unit held Tennessee to 13 points through 60 minutes. Last week, I was actually pondering who was the real number one team in the SEC? Georgia quickly ended that speculation on Saturday.
Well, well, well LSU! The Bayou Bengals successfully converted a 2-point conversion in overtime to beat the Crimson Tide in Death Valley for the first time since 2010. They now hold 1st place in the SEC West, with games against Arkansas (on the road), UAB and Texas A&M left on the schedule. Barring some unforeseen meltdown, I expect them to be in Atlanta contending for the conference championship in a few weeks. Impressive for a rebuild year. Speaking of 2010…
The Pretenders. …that was also the last time Alabama lost at least 2 games ahead of its Iron Bowl matchup with Auburn. With Georgia, LSU and Tennessee all ranked ahead of Bama in the college football playoff rankings, a playoff berth seems unlikely at this point. On top of that, the Tide won’t have much time to lick their wounds from LSU because they have another road test against Ole Miss this weekend. Lane Kiffin is a brilliant offensive coach, but I think it’s his in-game decisions is what could prevent him from being an elite coach, amongst other things. It’ll be interesting to see if his aggressive decisions become a factor in this weekend’s matchup. Outside of dropping Mississippi State a spot, not much else has changed with this group. They’re still pretending!
The SEC cellar. Even after beating Texas A&M last week, I’ve dropped Florida into the cellar for now. The rest of their schedule shapes up nicely as they have South Carolina at home, and away games against Vanderbilt and Florida State remaining. Beat the Gamecocks, and I’ll stop being disrespectful. Texas A&M is currently on a five-game losing streak, and will face off against an Auburn team who’s also dropped 5 straight. Although it will be a feel good story to see Cadillac Williams earn his first head coaching victory in Jordan-Hare, Jimbo Fisher desperately needs this game. Lose this game and his seat will reach temperatures unmeasured. That being said, I have 85 million reasons why Jimbo will be fine regardless of what happens this weekend.
Catch more Auburn Football content from The War Rapport on YouTube.