SEC football power rankings 2020: Alabama proves Auburn is a fraud

The SEC football power rankings entering Week 14 have Alabama putting rival Auburn in their place while Texas A&M and Ole Miss did the same to their rivals.

Some of the biggest games on the SEC football schedule were on the docket for this past weekend as the days after Thanksgiving are traditionally set for rivalry week. Subsequently, we got the Iron Bowl, the Egg Bowl and the clash between LSU and Texas A&M. And if there’s one thing we learned from all of those games, it’s that we’ve been right about the better team of the two all year long.

In the case of the Alabama Crimson Tide, they absolutely blasted the Auburn Tigers off the field in Tuscaloosa. Though it was far less impressive, the Aggies did the same to Ed Orgeron and the defending National Champions as LSU couldn’t manage any type of offense on the night. And while Ole Miss never totally pulled away, Lane Kiffin rolled to his first win in the rivalry.

Where does that leave the entirety of the conference as we stack the teams up against one another? It’s time for another dive into SEC football with our weekly power rankings of every team in the league.

New SEC football power rankings entering Week 14 of the 2020 season

Vanderbilt may have dropped to 0-8 on the season with a hapless loss to Missouri but they were the best SEC football story of the week as Sarah Fuller‘s kickoff made her the first female to play at the Power 5 level in football. Of course, it speaks to who the Commodores are that Fuller didn’t even get a chance to attempt a field goal or extra point.

Was there honestly anyone who thought that the firing of Will Muschamp and key playmakers such as Jaycee Horn opting-out for the rest of the season was going to help South Carolina? Probably not. So we shouldn’t be surprised that they took one on the chin against Georgia in a 29-point loss on Saturday.

Admittedly given all of the transfers and opt-outs that Mike Leach has endured this season at Mississippi State, the Bulldogs showed a ton of fight in the Egg Bowl. Will Rogers played arguably his best game to date and they had a chance to tie it up late. But a loss is a loss and those have been piling up in Starkville in the first season under the watch of The Pirate.

Due to the schedule being shuffled, Tennessee was off this past week but that might’ve been merciful as a loss to rival Vanderbilt would’ve been too much for the Vols faithful to bear. Unfortunately, a finishing slate of Florida and Texas A&M is likely going to leave a sour taste in their mouths throughout the entire offseason.

Not that anyone expected this iteration of Kentucky to be able to keep pace with the Gators’ high-octane offense but it might be a moral victory that the Wildcats weren’t completely embarrassed on Saturday in Gainesville. Yes, it was a 24-point loss but Mark Stoops‘ team at least never rolled over and fought for 60 minutes.

It’s quite telling that the LSU defense played its best game of the season and forced Kellen Mond to play his worst game of the year and the Tigers still lost, 20-7, to rival A&M. TJ Finley and Max Johnson are talented but young and the offense has often reflected that. This was one of those instances and it’s clearly not LSU’s year — but don’t count them out beyond 2020.

Arkansas had the week off, joining the Vols as the only idle teams for the Week 13 slate. It’s actually a bit unfortunate that the Razorbacks (for now) only have one game left on their schedule. They’ve often performed better than their 3-5 record might suggest and it’d be nice to see Feleipe Franks and Co. try to make a push for a .500 finish.

Everything you need to know about the Auburn Tigers this year was on full display in the Iron Bowl. Bo Nix is rendered ineffective against good college defenses, their defense isn’t where it has been in years past and their record is more indicative of some favorable outcomes in close games and beating bad teams. But losses to Georgia and now Alabama show that this isn’t a top-tier SEC football team in 2020.

There’s nothing that makes a team look good quite like playing Vanderbilt, much less a Commodores team ravaged by transfers and COVID-19. Missouri has been impressive at times this season, though, and the future is clearly bright for Eli Drinkwitz in Columbia. A season final against Arkansas will be a great measuring stick for where the team is coming out of his year.

Some might think this is a bit high for Ole Miss and it may very well be. But the truth is that, after the top four teams in the SEC, it’s a crap-shoot and the Rebels might be playing the best football of anyone in that group right now. Matt Corral looks like a star in the making while the defense submitted its best outing of the year against Mike Leach’s Air Raid.

One week after JT Daniels had his coming-out party in his debut at Georgia, the Bulldogs hardly needed their quarterback to trounce South Carolina on Saturday. It was a prototypical Dawgs victory as they rushed for north of 300 yards and the defense put the clamps on to pick up a monster win. Unfortunately, it’s still too little too late.

In all honesty, the rivalry game against LSU felt a bit fortunate for Texas A&M. As mentioned, Mond played the worst game of his 2020 season by a wide margin and Isaiah Spiller was fine but not out of his mind. Luckily, the Aggies defense submitted one of its best showings in the 2020 season to keep them nipping at the heels of Alabama and Florida.

Suffice it to say that Florida quarterback Kyle Trask enjoyed having tight end Kyle Pitts back in the lineup this week as the two connected for a trio of touchdowns in the 34-10 win over Kentucky. The Gators appear to simply be on cruise control as they eye the SEC Championship Game and a date with the No. 1 team in the power rankings.

Mac Jones and Trask are locked in a battle for the Heisman Trophy and the Alabama quarterback, with some help from the electric DeVonta Smith, showed why in the Iron Bowl. The Crimson Tide continue to look like they’re in their own tier among SEC football teams. Heading towards the title game against Florida, it’s hard to imagine even the Gators putting up enough of a fight to challenge Nick Saban’s club.

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