SEC football is two weeks into a long season and after a few games, I think it’s safe to start accurately ranking these teams. There’s been a few surprises like Texas A&M looking totally underwhelming with one of the league’s most talented rosters, Kentucky having a reliable QB (can’t believe I really just typed that) and Arkansas giving Texas the rudest “Welcome to the SEC” gift you could possibly give. So here it is, the Elijah Campbell SEC power rankings going into week 3.
1- ALABAMA (2-0,0-0) – The Crimson Tide started off the season with a total thrashing against a 15th-ranked Miami team and then proceeded to beat up on helpless Mercer, who was brave enough to endure the public embarrassment in exchange for a healthy monetary reward.
It’s not fair, really, how one program can lose almost all of it’s offensive production from a national championship season and just roll out a whole new squad and put up 40+ points off the bat against ranked teams. The inexperience at the QB position was the biggest question mark I had on this team coming into the season and Bryce Young erased those doubts in less than one quarter against Miami. After two games, Young has thrown for 571 yards (344 against Miami in his first career start), seven touchdowns without throwing a single pick. He is seemingly the Heisman front-runner and single handedly erased all doubts that might’ve been had. Life isn’t fair…and neither is Alabama football.
This week they’ll play Florida, a match-up of traditional SEC heavy weights. Florida is a pretty good football team and the Tide are still favored by two touchdowns. That’s a lot, and crazy enough, probably not enough because I can see Alabama winning this game by 21-28 points. Again, this isn’t fair and the only hope anybody actually has to knock this team off in the entire country is coming in at number two on this list.
2- GEORGIA (2-0, 0-0) – The Bulldogs have the nastiest defensive line unit in the country, as was displayed in the most watched rock fight of 2021 (a 10-3 win over Clemson). Georgia held Clemson to two total yards rushing for the entire game on 23 carries. TWO YARDS! FOR THE WHOLE GAME! AGAINST CLEMSON!
As mind blowing as it is to just completely shut down a Clemson offense like that, it might not even be the craziest stat of the game (or at least the one that reveals the depth of this defense). Georgia had seven sacks…by six different players. There is an abundance of NFL-caliber talent on this defense led by Jordan Davis, who might be the nastiest guy on that D-Line. Oh, and the secondary was without West Virginia transfer Tykee Smith for that game. If there is a defense that could possibly slow Alabama down, it’s this one.
Offensively, Georgia struggled against Clemson. Many teams will struggle against Clemson, who trots out one of the nation’s best defenses on a weekly basis as well, but Georgia didn’t exactly look sharp. Heisman-hopeful JT Daniels only threw for 135 yards on 4.5 yards per attempt to go along with an interception. Daniels didn’t play in the next game against UAB due to an injury but the offense still exploded for 56 points against a clearly out-matched Blazers defense. Fill-in QB Stetson Bennett threw for a ridiculous 288 yards on 12 passing attempts (24 yards per attempt is laughably impressive regardless of who you play against) and the Georgia WR corps finally got display some of that talent. Jermaine Burton was a no-show against Clemson but caught three passes for 92 yards. And of course, Georgia sports one of the best rushing backfields in the whole sport. Georgia is firmly in second in the SEC and the gap below them is fairly large considering this is the ONLY team in the conference that I feel confidence that can not only score on Alabama, but get enough stops defensively to win.
This Saturday they host South Carolina in their home opener and should win by no less than two touchdowns.
3 – TEXAS A&M (2-0, 0-0)- Alas, we get to the most disappointing team in the SEC so far. An insanely talented team with some of the best offensive weapons in the conference (Ainas Smith, Jalen Wydermyer and Isaiah Spiller) has disappointed as it took late game heroics from backup QB Zach Calzada, who found Spiller in the back of the end zone for a late TD to win the game, to beat an unimpressive Colorado team. In the opening game against Kent State, it still took a half for the Aggies to get any kind of offense going with Haynes King at QB.
The QB situation won’t improve instantly as the Aggies offense’s fate will rest in Calzada’s hands while King recovers from an injury he sustained in the second drive of the Colorado game. That shouldn’t make Aggie fans feel excited.
The bright side, however, is that the defense looks as advertised. In the two games against Kent State and Colorado, they have only given up 17 total points and haven’t allowed more than 100 passing yards in either game. Is it good enough to slow down Alabama and Georgia? Too soon tootle. All we know is that the offense is wasting the talents of their skill position players and if it doesn’t get corrected, they won’t sit at number three on this list for very long.
This weekend, they face New Mexico at home. An easy test for the Aggies to get Calzada some reps against live bodies as well as try to find a connection with the lethal weapons they have on that side of the ball. They’ll need it before the SEC opener against #20 Arkansas the following week.
4 – Auburn (2-0, 0-0)- I get it, Auburn has played a murderers row of nobodies to start the season (Akron and Alabama State). It’s hard to judge a team hen the opposition is this bad but in Auburn’s defense, they took care of business and then some. The offense has averaged 61 points per game in this two games, averaging a blistering 9.8 yards per play and running back (as well as candidate for best name in college football) Tank Bigsby is running just like his namesake as he is averaging a hilarious ten yards per carry.
Again, this isn’t sustainable because the Tigers offense will be forced to play against the closest thing to air available but there is always something admirable about taking care of business and adding some style points.
The real test for Auburn will be Saturday night as they play #10 Penn State on the road in a nationally televised game. This will probably determine if and how badly I overrated this team in this column.
5- Arkansas (2-0, 0-0)- SURPRISE! The Hogs make their way to number five in my rankings because of the demolition of Texas. I know they struggled in the first half of the season opener against a lowly Rice team but QB KJ Jefferson ha picked up the slack and played his way to being the team’s clear QB1 during the Texas game (throwing for 138 yards and running for 73). while it wasn’t eye-poppingly spectacular, he got the ball to the team’s play makers and let them move the ball down the field.
The biggest question mark for this team coming into the eason was the QB position and if Jefferson takes care of the ball and is able to constantly get weapons like Treylon Burks the ball in space, this offense can score with some of the best of them.
I still have zero worries about the defense and if you need proof, look no further than the master class that was that first half against Texas.
This week, the newly ranked Hogs will play Georgia Southern at home. Not to say they should feel threatened by Georgia Southern, but always beware of the trap game as they play Texas A&M one week later in what could be a highly entertaining match-up.
6- Ole Miss (2-0, 0-0)- Here at number six we have the most fun team in the conference. Heinemann sleeper Matt Corral might be the bet QB in the conference and is certainly showing it after throwing for 662 yards on 65 attempts (an intoxicating 10 yards per attempt) and six touchdowns without throwing an interception.
We still don’t know what this team is defensively. Last year they were atrocious and one of the worst in the whole sport. It was a unit so bad that it single handedly took them out of games and created some bad L’s where there should have been easy W’s. This season, they have given up 24 point to an anemic Louisville offense and then 17 to Austin Peay (seven of those, at least, coming in garbage time).
It;s not the biggest test they’ll face all year but up next they have Tulane at home. This isn’t your father’s Green Wave nor is it your grandfather’s SEC Tulane teams of the WWII era but they did put up 35 against Oklahoma and made the #3 ranked Sooners sweat out an ugly week one win at home. Ole Miss can make a pretty good statement with a stylish win on Saturday.
7- Florida (2-0, 0-0)- I’m not very impressed with Florida this season. The offense is completely re-vamped following the heavy losses to the NFL but QB Emory Jones was supposed to step in right away and be the dual threat QB extraordinare he was expected to be out of high school. So far, the passing game has lacked as he has already thrown for four interceptions in two games against Florida Atlantic and South Florida. If he’s averaging two picks a game against those teams, the SEC will eat him alive. Back up QB Anthony Richardson has impressed a few and maybe he pushes Jones for that starter spot.
The defense isn’t in an awful place as they are lead by DB Kaiir Elam (and probably the best overall returning player from last year) but were still expected to take a step back. Giving up 17 points per game in two games against FAU and USF doesn’t tell a completely accurate story on this defense so that’s still to be determined.
However, this is not the week to start figuring these things out as they host Alabama on CBS. Florida needs a lot of things, starting with Divine Intervention, to happen in order to stand a chance. They’re two touchdown underdogs in this game…and I don’t think they even touch that.
8 – LSU (1-1, 0-0)- The Tigers finally get on the board with a win against lowly McNeese State. The win still doesn’t feed me a ton of confidence that this Tigers team is ready to compete with Alabama, Georgia or even Texas A&M and Auburn.
From a numbers standpoint, it’s not pretty. The Tigers still give up more yards per play on defense than they gain on offense. That’s not a good sign considering your first two opponents were UCLA and McNeese State.
Not all hope should be lost thought. There is still a ton of talent on this offense with Kayshon Boutte being one of the best WR’s in all of the country. Max Johnson’s numbers aren’t atrocious but there is still some growth in him that the Tigers will need to see in order to compete and move up on this list.
9 – Kentucky (2-0, 1-1)- After many years of shaky QB play (and that’s putting it nicely), it seems as if the Wildcats FINALLY have a reliable signal caller in Will Levis (546 yards, 12.4 yards per attempt, five TD’s and two INT’s in two games). It also helps to have wideouts like Wan’Dale Robinson who has emerged as the favorite target for Levis.
The running game is still dominant as Christopher Rodriguez showed in running for 206 yards against Missouri. The offensive line is fantastic and is one of the better units in the SEC. At the beginning of the season, I gave Florida a slight edge over them in the SEC but after watching this offense, it’s hard to see any kind of gap between them and UF.
The difference maker will be the defense. Kentucky surrendered 28 to a Missouri Tigers offense that is one of the bottom in the conference (even though I am a closeted fan of Connor Bazelak’s game). This defense could be the sealer of the Wildcats fate. If they can get enough stops, this team will climb these rankings quickly.
This weekend will be much easier on the Wildcats as they take on UT-Chattanooga at home.
10 – Mississippi State (2-0, 0-0)- Mike Leach’s air raid offense has had a slow start in Starkville but he got one of his best wins this past weekend with a 24-10 victory over ACC sleeper NC State.
Will Rogers seems to be settling in better as the air raid passer that Leach’s offense needs to sling the ball over the field 50 times a game but there is still work to be done in the efficiency department (only 6.9 yards per attempt).
The defense also rebounded nicely from a nightmarish opening week that saw them surrender 34 points against Louisiana Tech. Against NC State, they gave up only 34 rushing yards on 25 attempts. A really impressive outing from a defensive unit that seemed to have learned from some of it’s week one mistakes.
This Saturday, the Bulldogs face an intriguing test against Memphis on the road. We know what we can expect from the offense, but which MSU defensive unit shows up?
11 – Missouri (1-1, 1-1)- Hard to crack the SEC top 10 when you’re the only team to lose a conference game so far and you failed to impress against Central Michigan in week one.
It’s not all doom and gloom for Missouri. The offense seems to be shaping up a little as Connor Bazelak threw for almost 300 yards against Kentucky.
Personally, I figured Kentucky would beat Missouri much easier than they did and the Tigers played a respectable game. It’s still not enough for me to drop them in the top ten in the SEC but the offensive progression should be a sign of optimism.
Missouri plays OVC foe SEMO this weekend and figures to cruise to an easy win in a game where we will learn absolutely nothing new from this team that we haven’t already figured in weeks one and two.
12 – South Carolina (2-0, 0-0)- The Gamecocks escaped East Carolina with a game winning field goal as time expired. It was ugly. Really ugly.
ECU isn’t on of the more impressive teams in the conference so the win isn’t exactly impressive despite doing so with a graduate assistant playing QB. When healthy, I still think this is a decent team. Not sure what I think of Luke Doty but the running game is still really good and potentially dangerous when the RB and OL groups are 100%.
Because of all the crucial injuries, it’s hard to accurately gauge this team but I won’t punish them for winning.
13 – Tennessee (1-1, 0-0) – Josh Heupel got his first “Welcome to Tennessee” loss this past Saturday as the Vols lost a game to Pittsburgh that they could have and should have probably won. Joe Milton looked awful as he was consistently overthrowing receivers and the defense had some trouble at times with that Pitt offense.
The bright side, however, is the play of Hendon Hooker. I thought he filled in nicely for Milton and the offense posted a higher yards-per-pay average with Hooker under center (5.9) than they did with Milton in the Bowling Green State game (5.3) and his five drives against Pittsburgh (4.7).
The Vols should get a good tune up win on Saturday against Tennessee Tech and maybe, just maybe, a clearer picture on who will be under center for the rest of the season.
14 – Vanderbilt (1-1, 0-0)- Huge congrats to Vandy Head Coach Clark Lea. Seriously. After losing at home to ETSU in what might’ve been one of the most embarrassing losses in SEC history, Lea got the troops ready against Colorado State and the Dores stole a win on the road. After the opener, many Dores fans could have reasonably expected another winless season.
What I liked about the win was not only the resolve and persistence it takes to come back form a two-score deficit, but that the strength of the team coming into the season was finally starting to get highlighted a little bit. QB Ken Seals put up an improved stat line with 238 yards and a pair of touchdowns without an interception and WRs Cam Johnson (nine catches for 66 yards) and Chris Pierce (four catches for 76 yards) finally were able to have their SEC-level skills on display. If Vanderbilt was to win anything in the SEC this year, they need to utilize their playmakers like they did against Colorado State.
The Commodores will put these types of improvements to the test as Stanford comes to town high off a 42-28 win over USC.
Elijah Campbell is the Executive Producer for Darren, Daunic & Chase (Weekdays from 10-2) and can be followed on Twitter @E_Campbell3.
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