The Kentucky Wildcats beat the Florida Gators for the first time since 1986. Needless to say, they get to move up the Week 2 SEC Power Rankings as a result.
This wasn’t a banner week for the SEC. The league really lacked a signature win in out of conference play. Texas A&M gave Clemson a fit at Kyle Field but came up just short. It was a good performance by the Aggies, but moral victories aren’t the standards in this conference.
The two most interesting games on the slate this week for conference openers. Georgia pounded South Carolina in Columbia to prove they are legitimate national title contenders. That was nice, but the real story was Kentucky waltzing into Gainesville and ending their hex at Florida. Mark Stoops needed a signature win and he certainly got one against the Gators.
Without further delay, let’s dive right into the power rankings for this week. We’ll start with a team that’s really struggling to make a scheme transition.
You can’t blame Chad Morris for being stubborn in this one. He wants to throw the ball all over the field, but the Razorback offense ran for 299 yards on 53 carries in this one. The problem for Arkansas is they couldn’t stop the Colorado State offense.
Ironically, they really struggled to stop the pass. Giving up 389 yards in the air to K.J. Carta-Samuels is not a good outing. Remember, the Rams only scored 13 points against Colorado last week. It’s going to be a long season for the Hogs.
Jeremy Pruitt got the first win of his tenure at Tennessee, but dominating East Tennessee State isn’t going to cause anyone in Knoxville to celebrate. It was a get well win for the Volunteers, but they didn’t learn a ton about their roster.
Tennessee still has a long way to go before they can be considered a competent SEC team. They showed signs of life against the Buccaneers, but their schedule will only get tougher in the coming weeks.
In case anyone out there is wondering, Drew Lock is for real. The Tigers quarterback carved up a pretty solid Wyoming defense to the tune of 398 yards and four touchdowns on Saturday. This is a quarterback who should hear his name called early in the 2019 NFL Draft.
Even though Missouri checks in at No. 12 again this week, they’ve closed the gap on the rest of the SEC. Winning at Purdue next weekend could help them shoot up our power rankings next week.