ELIJAH CAMPBELL’S WEEK 4 SEC POWER RANKINGS

Week Three of the college football season was fun. Weird and fun. Alabama looked human, Ole Miss’ offense is still a video game, Auburn played a big time non-conference game on the road (would love to see more of these games on-campus as opposed to neutral NFL stadiums) and Mississippi State lost to Memphis with the assistance of two #4’s and a loophole in the rule book. There’s a little bit of shakeup here in my power rankings but a lot are the same. Alabama and Georgia are still in their own tier but Texas A&M and Arkansas have a chance to inch a little closer as they collide in Jerry’s World. Florida looked impressive and might have given the best teams in the conference a blue print on how to defeat the mighty giant of the conference, did it move them up here? Let’s get to it.

1 – Alabama (3-0, 1-0)- Finally, it happened. Someone made a game competitive with the Tide and made them look human. I understand the offense might struggle at times this year with inexperience and that might be what we saw in the second half of the game as they only managed only 10 second half points during Bryce Young’s first career true-road start.

The biggest takeaway though isn’t just that the Gators managed to make it a two-point game late, or hold the Tide’s electric offense to 10 points in the second half,it’s that they ran the ball all over them. Florida racked up 246 yards on the ground on 5.7 yards per carry. Florida won the game in the trenches in that regard and if Emory Jones was a better threat through the air in that first half, we could easily be talking about Alabama being number two or three on this list because they would’ve caught their first L of the season. But they didn’t, and I don’t punish teams for winning.

This is still the best team in the conference and Bryce Young remains a Heisman favorite as he still managed to through for 240 yards and three touchdowns. The weapons are still their on offense and they still have a defense flooded with elite talent that will be playing on Sundays. However, if teams are able to run all over them and manage the game like Florida did in the second half, they might not sit atop this list all year long.

Up next: The Tide go back to Tuscaloosa this weekend as they play 1-2 Southern Miss. I don’t anticipate much of a challenge here and that’s putting it lightly.

2 – Georgia (3-0, 1-0)- For the first time this season, Georgia got the JT Daniels they had at the end of the 2020 season. With 303 yards, three touchdowns and a 74% completion percentage against South Carolina, Daniels looked like the guy many expected to be the best QB in the conference.

The running game did it’s thing too as three runners rushed for at least six yards per carry (James Cook with an astonishing 12 as he ran for 51 yards on his four carries). The Georgia offense is good at both phases and displayed some explosiveness with three scoring plays of 20 yards or more.

But of course, the main strength remains the defense, especially the DL and LB units. The Bulldogs held a good rushing attack in South Carolina to 94 yards on 34 rushing attempts (2.82 yards per carry) and held a good running back in Kevin Harris to only 31 yards on 16 touches. If your strength is running the football, playing Georgia isn’t right for you.

The Bulldogs are still the only team in my opinion that I favor to beat Alabama and if they get this type of performance from JT Daniels, they could be favorites to win the national title.

Up next: Georgia heads to our sweet city of Nashville to play Vanderbilt this Saturday. With the combination of this team being as good as they are and Vanderbilt being at a major talent disadvantage, it might be a safe bet to take the Dawgs and the points if you were to dabble on this game.

3 – Texas A&M (3-0, 0-0)- The Aggies had their first taste of what life without Haynes King would look like against New Mexico and performed admirably, taking care of business 34-0 at home.

QB Zach Calzada performed admirably with 275 yards and three touchdowns including a 70-yard touchdown pass to Demond Demas. For the first time this year, this talented offensive group seemed to finally get things going against a much inferior opponent. It’s also worth noting that they finally got major production out of Isaiah Spiller (117 yards on 15 carries) following a rough showing against Colorado.

The defense held the lowly Lobos to 122 total yards of offense and kept them from making this thing remotely competitive.

Up next: The Aggies have their best test of the season so far in their conference opener against an Arkansas team that is vastly improved and potentially dangerous. This will be the real test to see if Texas A&M has a chance to get close to being in the same tier as Alabama and Georgia. It’s a stretch, but an impressive win here can get me back on the bandwagon.

4 – Arkansas (3-0, 0-0) – The Hogs follow up the massive win at home against Texas by thumping an inferior opponent in Georgia Southern. Taking care of business against bad teams despite following up a massive win like that is a sign of a mature football team. This game against Georgia Southern shouldn’t surprise many and won’t impress everyone but it speaks volumes to me considering it came on the heels of that Texas win and was a week before the monster show down against Texas A&M. No hangover or look ahead/trap game effect for the Hogs in this one.

In the game itself, it was a good chance to get valuable passing reps for KJ Jefferson who threw for 366 yards on 15.9 yards per attempt. Growth in the passing game and the ability by Jefferson to be able to get the ball into the hands of play makers like Treylon Burks (three catches for 127 yards and a TD against GSU) will be the key to making Arkansas not only the most improved team in the conference, but a real team to reckon with.

Up next: The Hogs head to Dallas to play Texas A&M on Saturday. It’s the 2:30 CBS slot, making it the game of the week in this conference. Both teams will be fighting to prove their worth as the number three team in this conference and to prove themselves on a national stage. Doesn’t get much better than that.

5 – Florida (2-1, 0-1)- I don’t like to reward many teams for losing but it says something when you come within a two-point conversion of taking Alabama to over time. This team was thought to be invincible and the Gators proved to the SEC and the whole country that they do, in fact, bleed like the rest of us.

The Gators rushing attack just thrashed Alabama in a way we haven’t seen in awhile. Not many teams are able to rack up almost six yards per carry against a defense like that. QB Emory Jones was able to add to the rushing attack with 76 yards but an interception early in the first quarter helped contribute to the 21-3 hole the team dug themselves. The game for Florida was lost in the first quarter and if they could have avoided those early hiccups, Alabama probably doesn’t escape The Swamp alive. This Gator offense will go as far as Jones takes them. It will be a different look this week as the expectation is that Anthony Richardson will be available to provide the other end of the 1-2 QB punch Dan Mullen employed in the first two games.

Defensively, Florida stopped Alabama from moving the ball on the ground and at one point in the game, forced the Tide into three consecutive three-and-outs. If Florida can replicate that, they can keep themselves in the game against Georgia later on in the year and maybe get a little luckier than they did this past weekend.

This team is better than most thought they would be, especially me, and for that they earned their jump to five in my rankings.

Up next: A classic SEC East rivalry that has completely lost it’s luster because Tennessee has been a dump of a program since the mid 2000’s. The Vols come to town as three touchdown underdogs and searching for their first win in The Swamp since 2003. I doubt it happens and even though Tennessee MIGHT cover, I expect them to return in 2023 looking for their first win in Gainesville in over 20 years.

6 – Ole Miss (3-0, 0-0)- At number six, we have the most fun team in the conference with the most fun player/coach combo in the conference. This Ole Mis team is much watch television because of an offense that consistently lights up the scoreboard.

I would love to have them higher on this list but really can’t do so in good faith until they do it against defenses that aren’t practically air. But despite the lack of defensive resistance, there aren’t many, if any, teams in college football that can put up numbers like this: 52 points per game, 7.7 yards per play, 6.2 yards per rush and 10 yards per pass attempt.

Matt Corral is also the most fun player in this conference and is a sneaky Heisman candidate to watch for. His numbers after three games are ridiculous: 997 passing yards, 9 passing TDs, zero INT’s and 5 rushing touchdowns (four of which came against Tulane).

The only thing keeping this team from contending is it’s horrific defense from 2020. So far, it’s hard to tell just how improved they can be and 21 points surrendered isn’t the most impressive indicator of success against SEC offenses but for what it’s worth, Oklahoma gave up 35 to them at home just to weeks ago.

Up next: Ole Miss is off this week but gets the pleasure of heading to Tuscaloosa the following week to play Alabama in what is sure to be a track meet. Ole Miss will certainly be able to put up some points, especially if that rushing attack maintains, but will they get enough stops to pull off the massive upset? I’m not banking on it.

7 – Auburn (2-1, 0-0)- Life in the SEC can be unfair. Just last week I had Auburn at number four and after one loss on the road to a really good Penn State team in a one possession game that could’ve gone either way, they find themselves at seven.

Auburn is still a team that should be respected and will consistently find themselves all over the 4-8 range of this list all season long. We learned in the Penn State game that the offense can move the ball with assistance of the running game (Tank Bigsby continuing his solid season with a 102 yard effort) but can Bo Nix lead them to wins with his arm when they need it? It’s still doubtful. Penn State will give a lot of teams fits but Nix seemed especially underwhelming against them.

Defensively, the Tigers were impressive in stopping the run, holding Noah Cain to 2.4 yards per attempt and only 45 yards for the game. However, Sean Clifford was efficient and the Nittany Lions were able to carve up almost nine yards per pass attempt on the night.

Up next: Auburn returns home to play Georgia State. Georgia State was supposed to be way more competitive this season than what they have been so it will be no surprise to see Auburn win by four or five touchdowns.

8 – LSU (2-1, 0-0) – LSU was a little more impressive this past week against Central Michigan. The offense showed us something as they racked up 484 yards of total offense (7.68 yards per play) and Max Johnson looked like a gunslinger as he threw for 372 yards and five touchdowns. This offense will live and die by Johnson’s ability to give their playmakers the ball in advantageous situations.

The defense looked solid as most of Central Michigan’s points were scored when the game was out of reach.

This Tiger team is still confusing and is a tough bet week in and week out but with their SEC schedule coming up this weekend, we’ll soon learn how much they learned from that opening week loss to UCLA.

Up next: LSU travels to Starkville to take on Mississippi State in a rematch of last year’s shocking season opening loss. Not just a loss, but a loss where MSU broke an SEC passing yard record. MSU is still figuring things out and LSU still has them beat in the overall talent department. Surely they won’t get torched by Mike Leach’s offense like that again…right?

9 – Kentucky (3-0, 1-0) – Kentucky is one tough cat to figure out. They squeezed out a good conference win against Missouri and one week later, hold on for dear life against the fighting Terrell Owens’ in UT-Chattanooga.

The most concerning issue with Kentucky in that game was the rushing attack was lacking against a way inferior opponent. Both leading rushers (Christopher Rodriguez and Kavosiey Smoke) were held under four yards per carry and the team as a whole was out-rushed by the Mocs 171-103. Yuck.

It was an embarrassing showing for any SEC team but I won’t punish them for winning. I still see potential in the offense but the defensive effort is concerning. If UTC ran the ball like that, imagine what their conference foes will do.

Up next: Kentucky plays their second SEC contest of the season on the road at South Carolina. A potential match-up nightmare as a team that just surrendered 171 rushing yards to UTC will have to play an underrated rushing unit in South Carolina. I expect Kentucky to win out right and against the spread but they will more than likely have to be bailed out by the strength of Will Levis’ arm.

10 – Mississippi State (2-1, 0-0)- There is not a team in the country that suffered a more bizarre loss than MSU did last week. A punt return that was seemingly downed and blown dead was revived by a Memphis player who ran the distance and scored a touchdown that proved to be the difference in the game.

The Bulldogs are growing and they are still getting fully acclimated to the Air Raid offense but Saturday seemed to be just what Mike Leach wants. 67 passing attempts, 419 passing yards and 26 first downs is exactly what he looks for in the offense and from QB Will Rogers.

MSU dominated the first down battle and the yardage battle but in the end, Memphis was more opportunistic and a little more lucky to come away with a win. Is a loss to an AAC opponent ideal? No, but Memphis is a good team and they were more evenly matched than even the Vegas line might indicate.

Up next: MSU hosts LSU in a big opportunity to show that last year’s win wasn’t a fluke and that Mike Leach owns Ed Orgeron’s defenses. I anticipate it being a pretty evenly matched game but still don’t think they move the ball quite as well against LSU as they did against Memphis.

11 – Missouri (2-1, 0-1) – Missouri beat up on poor SEMO last week 52-28 and while the 28 points by an OVC team might stand out, it’s worth noting that 21 of those points occurred after Missouri worked up a massive 52-7 lead.

An efficiant passing day for Connor Bazelak (346 yards on 30 attempts and three touchdowns) and a rushing attack that ran for almost seven yards per carry took care of business for the offense. Overall, a good tune-up for a team that’s mission was just to not look bad against a bad team, a mission they failed in their week one game against Central Michigan.

Up next: Missouri continues non-conference play against Boston College, who is coming off a blowout win against Temple who won without having to throw over 70 yards to get the win. BC isn’t as impressive as they are without QB Phil Jurkovec for the remainder of the season. It will be a better test than SEMO but I still expect them to come away with a win.

12 – South Carolina (2-1, 0-1)- The Gamecocks lose the SEC opener against a dominant Georgia team so I’m not going to punish them.

The good news? Luke Doty was finally back under center and was able to at least get some game reps against the best of the best. That should bode well for later in the season. RB Kevin Harris also returned and despite getting shutdown by UGA (31 yards, 1.9 yards per carry), should be a little better in the coming weeks as he gets his legs under him after missing the first two games.

Playing your first game with your starting QB and star RB against UGA is a dreadful ask and the game wasn’t pretty but they should be making a turn for the better in the coming weeks.

Up next: The first reasonable game with Doty and Harris back: a home SEC contest with Kentucky. The Cats are looking to bounce back following their dreadful game against UTC and need to make a statement and snag a 2-0 start in conference play. SC has one advantage though, UK looked bad against the run last week and if Harris is 100% and the big nasties on the O-Line create some room, they’ll find themselves in the game with a good chance to win.

13 – Tennessee (2-1, 0-0) – The Vols mercilessly beat up on Tennessee Tech and maybe gained a little bit more confidence going into the Florida game this weekend.

The big question mark will be the QB position. No word has been released yet on who will be the starter between Joe Milton and Hendon Hooker but whoever it is, will need to complete a pass of over five yards if they want to beat Florida.

It’s basically impossible to learn anything meaningful from the Tennessee Tech game because TTU is not only an FCS school, but one of the worst in the country.

Up next: The Vols travel to Gainesville searching for their first win in The Swamp since 2003. Spoiler alert: they won’t get it. In order to win, the QBs will have to complete meaningful passes beyond the sticks because if the Gators can stop Alabama’s rushing attack, I can only imagine what they’ll do to theirs. Florida also proved to be able to run the ball at will against one of the best defenses in the country. Tennessee’s defensive front might be the most talented position group on the roster and even that might not be enough to keep Florida from rushing for more than 6.5 yards per carry.

14 – Vanderbilt (1-2, 0-0) – The Commodores were unable to carry over the momentum from their win at Colorado State as Stanford came to Nashville and won by 18.

However, there are a few positives Vanderbilt can take away here. One, they were able to tally almost 400 yards of total offense. Two, they were able to move the ball for 23 first downs against a respectable defense and three, they were able to end the game on a positive note as Mike Wright hit Cam Johnson with a 23-yard TD pass as time expired. For a team that is trying to build confidence, they’ll take all the silver linings and positives you can provide.

However, the team still looks bad for the most part. Ken Seals disappointed as he only completed 43% of his passes and a late turnover in the first half was the beginning of the end as it seemingly stole all momentum or confidence they had going into the half. The QB can’t take you out of drives or commit those kind of turnovers if you want to keep yourself competitive.

Up next: Georgia comes to town and is favored by 34.5. That’s a massive number and I anticipate them hitting it. That UGA defensive front will eat the Commodore offensive line and I am expressing sincere concern for Ken Seals and his family on Saturday. It will get ugly and I just hope they leave this contest as healthy as possible and that everyone can remain friends.

Elijah Campbell is the Executive Producer for Darren, Daunic & Chase (Weekdays from 10-2) and can be followed on Twitter @e_campbell3.