Alabama gained some traction through its win over East Carolina. ESPN Guru Bill Connelly wrote about Week 1 overreactions and included that the Crimson Tide "will be fine." He added that his assessment of Alabama was not a literal overreaction because, in advance of the game, he stated that if the Tide "covered the four-touchdown spread", it would be "a very good sign." His post-game conclusion was "Last year's issues might be fixed and the upside is obvious, but bigger challenges await." Fair enough.
Perceptions about the relative strength and weakness of teams are about as clear as mud. By October we'll learn that the SEC Power Rankings below were more wrong than right. But, let's dive in enthusiastically anyway.
For the fanbases these rankings anger, consider the deep strength of the SEC. An early guess is that somewhere around 10 to 12 deep, SEC teams are capable of upsetting favored teams. It's going to be a wild ride.
SEC Football Week 1 Power Rankings
- No. 1 - Texas Longhorns - The Horns opened with a 59-7 win over Texas State. Steve Sarkisian might have college football's best team.
- No. 2 - Georgia Bulldogs - Tennessee State was an embarrassing sacrificial lamb for the Dawgs. Even so, the 63-3 win is noted. Kirby Smart may have his best team since 2022.
- No. 3 - LSU Bengal Tigers - Kiffin's team earned this slot with the 51-10 win, unless Clemson is just atrociously bad, which they might be.
- No. 4 - Alabama Crimson Tide - Go ahead, call me a 'homer' - I deserve it. A slight defense is the Crimson Tide is the fourth-highest-ranked SEC team in ESPN's FPI.
- No. 5 Ole Miss Rebels - The Rebels beat a good team in a 41-38 victory over Louisville. But their secondary is so bad that this ranking might be too high.
- No. 6 Oklahoma Sooners - OU blanked UTEP 51-0. I call the Sooners sneaky good.
- No. 7 Tennessee Vols - The Vols opened with powder puff Furman and won 56-9.
- No. 8 Texas A&M Aggies - The Aggies blanked Missouri State 50-0.
- No. 9 South Carolina Gamecocks - South Carolina beat Kent State 57-0. All summer I've been saying Shane Beamer's team will pull off a big upset this season. I'm guessing Tennessee or Texas A&M, and hopefully not Alabama.
- No. 10 Florida Gators - The Gators beat FAU 66-21. They Gators are much improved.
- No. 11 Missouri Tigers - Missouri beat Arkansas-Pine Bluff 54-14.
- No. 12 Auburn Tigers - I think Golesh was a great hire for the Aubies, but the 17-16 win over Baylor was not impressive. They could improve considerably during the season.
- No. 13 Vanderbilt Commodores - Behind a solid defense, the Dores beat Austin Peay 28-9. Once Jared Curtis settles in as QB1, Vanderbilt will be improved.
- No. 14 Kentucky Wildcats - The Cats beat Youngstown State 45-13. A revamped and improved offense will make games interesting.
- No. 15 Mississippi State Bulldogs - The Bulldogs opened with a 62-13 win over ULM. Putting up 762 yards of offense against the Warhawks was 'kinda' impressive.
- No. 16 Arkansas Razorbacks - The Hogs broke a 10-game losing streak, beating North Alabama 31-14. New coach Ryan Silverfield was not impressed. Neither were Arkansas fans.
That's it for Week 1. For the disappointed fans of 'other' teams, I swear it's not personal - unless your team is Tennessee, LSU, or Auburn.
Check out: SEC Bragging Rights
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