SEC power rankings, Week 8: And then there were two…
By John Buhler
The SEC has two elite teams, some truly awful football teams and maybe the semblance of a respectable middle in the conference. Here are the power rankings.
Week 7 of the 2017 college football season was one of ridiculous upsets. This past week saw four of the top 10 teams fall, including the No. 10 Auburn Tigers in the SEC. The Tigers couldn’t win the Tiger Bowl at home over SEC West rival LSU and both are now 5-2 on the season.
The SEC went 7-6 with the Kentucky Wildcats on their bye. Week 7 featured six conference games, so that’s where all your defeats are coming from. The lone team to not play an SEC game was the Mississippi State Bulldogs, who throttled the hapless BYU Cougars to get back into the win column.
Overall, the SEC is not in as bad of shape as the outside media claims it to be. The SEC would have two teams in the College Football Playoff if the season ended today: the No. 1 Alabama Crimson Tide and the No. 3 Georgia Bulldogs.
Joining them would be the No. 2 Penn State Nittany Lions of the Big Ten and the No. 4 TCU Horned Frogs. The Pac-12 no longer has an undefeated team after the Washington schools lost in Week 7. The ACC still has an undefeated Miami Hurricanes team, but they’re not as menacing as the Clemson Tigers who lost to Syracuse last Friday.
So let’s carry on and see how the SEC shakes out this week. Here are the weekly power rankings of the 14 SEC teams heading into Week 8.
Arkansas Razorbacks (2-4)
Last week: Loss at No. 1 Alabama, 41-9
Last rank: 12th
Things are not going well in Fayetteville for the Hogs. The Arkansas Razorbacks have fallen to 2-4, and Bret Bielema still does not have an SEC win this season. His team just got steamrolled by the class of the SEC West in the No. 1 Alabama Crimson Tide, 41-9.
In year five, we had thought Bielema would be able to show the college football world that he can coach in the toughest division in college football. Instead, Arkansas has to be looking for a new coach. Auburn, LSU and Mississippi State feel like losses left on the slate. It’s not looking good for the Hogs to go bowling or for Bielema to keep his job.
Missouri Tigers (1-5)
Last week: Loss at No. 4 Georgia, 53-28
Last rank: 13th
Missouri is the worst team in the SEC East, and possibly still the worst team in the SEC as a whole. However, the Tigers have shown some fight in their last two SEC East games at Kentucky and at Georgia, at least offensively. Drew Lock is showing that he will be an NFL arm when he does leave Columbia in a few years. Missouri will put up points on a great defense if it’s not paying attention.
However, the up-tempo offense of Josh Heupel renders the Missouri defense useless most weeks. Until Missouri can prove to the SEC that it doesn’t have a Big 12 defense, the Tigers will struggle to win conference games. Missouri might win four games this year, but will be missing a bowl for a third straight season.