SEC power rankings, Week 1: Alabama holds serve

The SEC flexed its muscle as a conference on college football’s opening weekend. Alabama still reigns supreme, but lots of teams have cause for optimism.

Auburn got the SEC’s biggest win of the weekend, but no one did enough to knock Alabama off its perch. The league may have more parity than most people expected, but the Crimson Tide showed people why they are ranked No. 1 in their blowout win over Louisville.

In truth, it was a really good weekend for the conference as a whole. No favored team came anywhere close to losing. Auburn’s big win over No. 6 Washington in Atlanta served notice that the SEC is still a force to be reckoned with. Tennessee’s blowout loss to West Virginia was the only real blemish in the league’s opening weekend.

Without a doubt, let’s dive in to this week’s power rankings. There should be zero surprise about who comes in at the No. 1 spot.

Bobby Petrino may have believed his Cardinals had a chance to waltz into Tuscaloosa and best Nick Saban, but it was never going to happen. Alabama handled business at home in the fashion that a preseason No. 1 team should.

The biggest story out of the weekend for Alabama was the emergence of Tua Tagovailoa. He thoroughly outplayed Jalen Hurts. Throwing for 227 yards and two touchdowns should be enough to earn the talented sophomore the starting job moving forward.

This was a massive win for Gus Malzahn’s team. The Tigers’ odds of reaching the College Football Playoff have skyrocketed with their victory over the Huskies.

Curiously, the Tigers didn’t win this game due to Jarrett Stidham and their potentially electric offense. Instead, it was the defense that carried the day. That’s great news for Auburn and really worrying news for the rest of the SEC.

We would have slated the Bulldogs at No. 3 before the season began. In other words, Auburn’s opportunity to play against a highly ranked opponent didn’t allow it to catapult Georgia. The Tigers already had the advantage.

The win over Austin Peay really didn’t tell us anything we didn’t know. Kirby Smart is blessed with two top-notch quarterbacks in the form of Jake Fromm and Justin Fields. Both excelled against the Governors. It will take several more weeks until we know just how impactful Fields can be as a freshman. It’s a great problem for Georgia to have.

Trusting in Ed Orgeron after blowing out an overrated Miami team is a dangerous gamble. No one should be crowning the Tigers as SEC Champions, but it’s safe to say their offense is better than we initially believed.

Nick Brossette might not make LSU fans forget about Leonard Fournette, but he was a beast against the Hurricanes. For now, Orgeron’s team deserves to be in the conversation about who the best team in the SEC not named Alabama is.

Lighting Charleston Southern up isn’t going to vault Feleipe Franks into the Heisman race, but it was a solid step forward for the Gators quarterback. He didn’t play many games last season where he completed two-thirds of his passes and racked up five touchdowns.

If Dan Mullen can keep Franks on the straight and narrow, his team could rise to the top of the SEC East standings. That’s a big if, but he did all he could against the Buccaneers.

Jimbo Fisher didn’t face a big name opponent on his debut, but he still gave Aggies fans a lot to be excited about. Strangely, Fisher’s first game in charge did more to help the Texas A&M ground game than the passing attack.

Trayveon Williams exploded with 240 rushing yards on just 20 carries against the Demons’ defense. Things will get tougher for him moving forward, but this could turn out to be a very balanced Aggies offense.

The Bulldogs offense is going to miss Mullen’s leadership over the long haul, but they certainly didn’t show any ill effects from his departure in the opener. They waltzed to an easy win against Stephen F. Austin in Joe Moorhead’s debut.

Quarterback Keytaon Thompson had a big day filling in for Nick Fitzgerald. He wasn’t terribly efficient, but any time you throw for 364 yards and five touchdowns, you’re doing something right. The team will be happy to welcome Fitzgerald back, but it’s nice to know they have another option under center.

The Gamecocks didn’t quite blow Coastal Carolina out by the same margin some of their peers enjoyed, but it was still a very comfortable win for Will Muschamp and company. Next weekend’s game against Marshall should be a better barometer of where South Carolina really stands.

The run game was particularly strong against the Chanticleers. Rico Dowdle racked up 105 yards on just 15 carries. The Gamecocks will need to grind out opponents on the ground if they want to factor into the race for the SEC East crown.

Matt Luke can’t take the Rebels to a Bowl Game this season, but he got his team off to a good start against Texas Tech. Most people expected the Rebels to prevail over the Red Raiders, but the margin was a pleasant surprise for the Ole Miss fan base.

Luke and company should be particularly pleased with their balance on offense. Jordan Ta’amu was better than expected throwing the football and Scottie Phillips was explosive on the ground. Keeping that sort of balance going will be key for Ole Miss this year.

The Commodores were favored against the Blue Raiders, but no one expected to see them blow MTSU off the field. This was a terrific win for Derek Mason and his team.

The most interesting detail about the win for Vanderbilt was their distribution of carries to their running backs. Mason gave three different backs at least nine carries on the day. They need to settle on a bell cow over the long haul, but each guy gives their offense a little something different.

This was not a comfortable opener for the Wildcats. They struggled mightily with the Chippewas before taking control in the second half. Mark Stoops’ team will need to play much better in the future if they want to be a factor in the SEC.

Specifically, the offense needs to do a better job of protecting the football. Terry Wilson can’t throw two interceptions in just 18 attempts if he wants to hold on to the starting job. Gunner Hoak replaced him after Wilson suffered an injury and seemed to galvanize the offense. Don’t bet against Hoak being the guy moving forward.

Drew Lock got the Tigers off to a good start against the Skyhawks. He’ll face much stronger competition in the future, though. Even so, completing 19 of 25 passes for 289 yards and four touchdowns is excellent production from a quarterback.

It was slightly alarming to see how much the Tigers struggled to run the ball in this game. That’s never going to be this offense’s bread and butter, but they should have done more against this sort of defense. It’s something to watch moving forward.

This was not the debut Jeremy Pruitt was hoping to see out of his team. The score line may be a little worse than the Volunteers played, but they were clearly outclassed by the Mountaineers.

On the bright side, the Tennessee offense did move the ball pretty well in this one. Tim Jordan was a major bright spot. If he can continue to produce 100-yard rushing performances then Pruitt’s team should stay competitive in most games.

Chad Morris has a tough job ahead of him at Arkansas. He’s got to change this team’s total identity before he can get the Razorbacks up and running. The team handled its business against Eastern Illinois, but the competition will be much stronger in the future.

It’s clear Arkansas will do all of its offensive work this year through the air. The Razorbacks only managed 80 rushing yards against the Panthers. A little more balance could go a long way for this team moving forward.