Alabama Football: Week 2 SEC Football Power Rankings

3. LSU

You drop 42 points on any team from the FBS in the first half and it’s impressive. We’re not saying that LSU is “back” back, but Tigers’ head coach Ed Orgeron’s offseason addition of passing game coordinator Joe Brady seems to have bared fruit on Saturday against Georgia Southern.

Dave Aranda’s defense was going to be Dave Aranda’s defense regardless (the Tigers gave up 98 yards and three points to the Eagles), but previous seasons in Baton Rouge would yield dicey results on the offensive side of the ball against Group of 5/FCS opponents. That didn’t seem to be the case this past weekend. Quarterback Joe Burrow threw for 278 yards and five touchdowns, spreading the ball around to a slew of receivers on their way to a 52-point victory.

While the run game was underwhelming, it’s possible that Orgeron and his staff wanted to establish what may be a new era of LSU football: passing the ball. Whether the run game consistently hurts because of this remains to be seen, but it could make things very interesting in what appears to be a competitive SEC West.

This Saturday the Tigers travel to Austin to face the Longhorns in primetime.

4. Texas A&M

A&M’s impressive 41-7 victory over Texas State did little to help or hinder their position in this week’s Power Rankings. The Aggies seem to be building upon a decent first season under head coach Jimbo Fisher by handily beating the Bobcats, but what can we really discern from such a victory?

Quarterback Kellen Mond was efficient throwing for 194 yards and three touchdowns and the run game seems to already be gelling with sophomore Jashaun Corbin and true frosh Isaiah Spiller each rushing for over 100 yards against the Bobcats.

Just as impressive, DC Mike Elko’s squad held State to just eight yards rushing.

Next week begins what will be one of the most daunting schedules in the FBS in 2019, when the Aggies travel to Clemson.

5. Auburn

I’ll give it to them: the Tigers looked like vintage Gus Malzahn Auburn on Saturday. This could be good or bad, but based off their comeback victory in primetime against the Ducks, it seems to be good. For the moment.

Anything can happen, right? From a pure pattern perspective, if the Barners are given too much shrift heading into a season, they underperform. However, given their No. 16 preseason ranking to go along with their “impressive” 27-21 victory, maybe this is the year for Gus and his merry band of “I don’t know whats” do something good.

One thing can be said for Malzahn’s decision to go with true freshman Bo Nix at QB: it’s going to be fun to watch. Fun for Auburn fans because, along with RB Boobee Whitlow, Gus Bawl could be back in full swing. Fun for ‘Bama fans because when Nix inevitably makes more freshman mistakes, it’ll be all the more joyous in Malzahn’s system. We all win!

The Tigers’ defensive front is as advertised, but the back half of the defense seems to be firing on all cylinders, as well. Defensive back Jeremiah Dinson and ILB K.J. Britt combined for 20 tackles and 3.5 sacks in the game.

All told, this should be as delightfully funky a season for Auburn as we’ve seen in awhile. Up next, the Tigers host Tulane.