SEC football power rankings, Week 10: Alabama, Florida, Auburn make blowout statements

Alabama remains starkly atop the SEC football power rankings with another blowout win but Florida and Auburn are rising after statement wins of their own.

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before, but there might not be a peer for the Alabama Crimson Tide in the SEC football landscape. With the Week 9 slate of games in the books, Nick Saban’s team continued its tour of domination with a 41-0 win over Mississippi State. So the team that has helmed the SEC football power rankings to this point only affirmed their positioning.

However, Alabama wasn’t the only SEC team to earn a statement win on Saturday. Florida returned to action after a long time away from the field and submitted a strong 41-17 win over a good Missouri team. In the same light, an Auburn squad that I and many others were dubious of showed their best performance yet in a thrashing of a reeling LSU team.

So with that action in the books, we know that Alabama is still at No. 1 in the SEC football power rankings. But how do the chips fall behind them? Let’s take a look as we head into a crucial Week 10 slate.

SEC football power rankings entering Week 10

Vanderbilt returned to action on Saturday after a layoff largely due to issues with COVID and, as it turns out, this is the same Commodores team we saw prior to their break. Ole Miss hung 54 points on them while Ken Seals and the offense could only manage 21 against a more than generous defense. This is heading towards a winless season in Nashville.

Things have gone awry for Mike Leach and Mississippi State. After high hopes emerged in the season-opener, the Bulldogs are now losers of four straight and barely managed a whimper against Alabama. While that’s to be expected, it’s clear that Leach has some work to do if he wants to be successful in coaching SEC football.

Will Muschamp and the Gamecocks had Week 9 off and will get an unfriendly date with Texas A&M in Week 10. This isn’t necessarily a bad team but it’s clear that the ceiling is limited with Collin Hill at quarterback and a defense that has yet to capitalize on the raw talent that bleeds through the roster.

LSU duped us. After TJ Finley took over and seemingly gave the Tigers life last week, they came out on Saturday and were downright abysmal against Auburn. Not only did the defense make Bo Nix look like Patrick Mahomes but the offense managed only 11 points between Finley and Max Johnson at quarterback. Things are looking bad in 2020 in Baton Rouge.

It’s not surprising that this hapless Kentucky offense, whether Joey Gatewood or Terry Wilson Jr. is at the helm, could only muster three points against Georgia’s defense. But it’s disheartening that the Wildcats held the Bulldogs to only 14 points and still never felt like they were close to winning. The ceiling might be lower than expected for Mark Stoops’ team.

Some might scoff at having Tennessee higher than Kentucky given that the Wildcats beat the Vols but this is based on the upside of Jeremy Pruitt’s team. Jarrett Guarantano is a costly enigma for this offense but, based on the talent around him and especially on defense, Tennessee could put it all together and be better than at least 8-9 SEC football teams.

There’s nothing like playing Vanderbilt to cure any woes and such was the case for quarterback Matt Corral and the Ole Miss offense. The Rebels were unstoppable when they had the ball and, as you’d expect, the defense had its best showing yet. Being dubious of how this team fares against top-tier SEC teams is wise but, when the offense is clicking, they can compete.

Losing 41-17 in Gainesville definitely isn’t a good look for Eli Drinkwitz and the Missouri Tigers. But my sneaking suspicion is that has more to do with Florida than their Week 9 opponent. Still, there should be some caution about trusting this team if the offense couldn’t compete against a defense that hadn’t been all that impressive prior to Saturday.

There’s no need to penalize Arkansas for the loss to Texas A&M, even if they do drop to 2-3 on the season. Feleipe Franks and Rakeem Boyd held their own against the Aggies on Saturday and tried to muster a late comeback. The Razorbacks may not be an elite team but they are good enough to not just glance over for any team in the conference.

My criticism of Auburn and Bo Nix has been harsh to this point, largely because they could’ve and maybe should’ve been 1-4 coming into Saturday. But Nix was phenomenal in dicing up LSU, notching 381 total yards and four touchdowns. The defense also played their best game of the year. Maybe it’s a turning point or maybe it’s an anomaly. We’ll have to wait and see with the Tigers before moving them higher.

Jimbo Fisher’s Aggies almost allowed Arkansas to creep back into the game in the fourth quarter but, overall, Kellen Mond and Texas A&M took care of business. The loss to Alabama is the only blemish on their record and, frankly, no team in the SEC may be in the same league as the Tide. As for A&M, they seem to be a lock for second place in the West.

Understanding that Kentucky is a quality defense, it’s hard to get excited for Georgia in a 14-3 win over the Wildcats. Stetson Bennett was bad while Zamir White shouldered the offensive load. Still, with injuries piling up to key players, especially on defense, the Week 10 rivalry matchup against Florida looms large. And after this performance, the Dawgs might be in trouble when it comes to hanging onto control in the SEC East.

Florida was another team that returned from a COVID-related layoff and they didn’t miss a beat. Not only did Kyle Trask keep the offense absolutely humming but the Gators defense played their best game of the season to this point. While Georgia has some alarms sounding, Florida might be hitting their stride heading into the Cocktail Party, pandemic edition.

Apparently not having Jaylen Waddle just means Mac Jones is going to make DeVonta Smith the best wide receiver in college football. That duo connected for four touchdowns as Alabama dominated Mississippi State. The Crimson Tide not only look like the best SEC football team but the best team in the country. And it’s hard to imagine anyone in the conference even being competitive with them.

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