SEC Power Rankings after Week One

Auburn is on the rise, and LSU takes a tumble.

The first full weekend of the SEC football season is in the books, so it's time to look at the updated power rankings. A lot of new starting quarterbacks made successful SEC debuts. Most of the conference teams won in routes of lesser opponents, so it's hard to take too much away from those contests. Florida, South Carolina, and LSU (the only losers this week) all suffered tough losses against Power 5 opponents and trended down, while there were several teams on the rise.

1. Georgia (Last week 1) 

Georgia is still the top Dawg. Despite a slow start, they took care of business against Mercer and eased Carson Beck into the limelight as QB1. He passed for just shy of 300 yards with a 67% completion percentage and no turnovers. The running game was decent, totaling 159 yards on the day. Won't know much about this team until they face Auburn later this month. The hopes of an historic three-peat are still alive as Georgia takes on a Ball State team coming off a 30 point loss to Kentucky Saturday in Athens.

2. Alabama (Last week 3) 

Nick Saban finally decided on Jalen Milroe as the TIde's starting quarterback and Milroe proceeded to pass for 194 yards with three touchdowns and a 72% completion rate. He also led the team in rushing with 48 yards on seven carries. It will be a much tougher challenge next week when Texas comes calling, but for now, Milroe looks to be the guy.

3. Tennessee (Last week 4) 

Tennessee crushed ACC foe Virginia. Joe Milton III seemed quite comfortable in his first game at the helm for the Vols. Milton had a 70% completion percentage while throwing for 201 yards and 2 touchdowns. Junior running back Jaylen Wright led the rushing attack with 115 yards on 12 carries for 9.5 yards per carry. Tennessee hosts the Governors of Austin Peay on Saturday.

4. Ole Miss (Last week 8) 

Ole Miss moves up a few spots on the strength of a 73-point outing against the Mercer Bears. Jaxson Dart appears to have established himself as the starter after a 334-yard passing day with four touchdowns. The Rebels outstanding running back Quinshon Judkins opened the season strong gaining 60 yards on 13 carries and scoring two touchdowns. Ole Miss makes the short trip to New Orleans to take on Tulane on Saturday.

5. Texas A&M (Last week 5) 

Despite the Aggies 52 point output on the hapless New Mexico Lobos of the Mountain West, they drop a spot this week. The Fisher/Petrino experiment had a nice debut as did Connor Weigman in his first full season as the Aggies starting quarterback. Things will get real next week when they travel to Miami to take on the Hurricanes who throttled the other Miami from Ohio.

6. Arkansas (Last week 6) 

The Razorbacks drop stays steady at seven this week following their blowout of Western Carolina. K.J. Jefferson performed as is to be expected against a team like the Catamounts passing for 246 yards and 3 touchdowns. Raheim Sanders rushed for two touchdowns and 42 yards. Another tuneup game is in store this week as Arkansas entertains Kent State.  

7. Auburn (Last week 10) 

Hugh Freeze made a successful debut as the Tigers head coach with a 59-14 thrashing of the UMass Minutemen. Michigan State transfer quarterback Peyton Thorne had a solid debut as Auburn's starter with 141 yards passing and a touchdown. Backup quarterback Robby Ashford stole the spotlight a bit as he transformed into Red Zone Robby scoring three rushing touchdowns. The new look offensive line paved the way for multiple running backs in what looks to be a much-improved running game. The Tigers will be tested as they take a cross-country road trip to take on the Cal Bears Saturday night in Berkley, CA.

8. LSU (Last Week 2) 

The Bayou Bengals held ground with Florida State for two quarters Sunday night, but were outscored 31-7 in the second half. Jayden Daniels was harassed all night and sacked 4 times finishing with 347 passing yards, one touchdown, and one interception, and led the Tigers in rushing with 64 yards. LSU gets a chance to regroup next week as they take on the Grambling Tigers before jumping into conference play.

9. Kentucky (Last week 6) 

Kentucky drops a few spots this week, despite a 44-14 win over Ball State. NC State transfer quarterback had a good initial outing as the Wildcats signal caller passing for 241 yards and a touchdown, but he also had an interception. The Cats entertain Eastern Kentucky next week.

10. Mississippi State (Last week 11) 

The Bulldogs move up a spot following their 48-7 beat down of the SE Louisiana. Will Rogers was his usual good self throwing for 227 yards and two touchdowns on 20/29 passing. Running back Jo'Quavious Marks chipped in 127 yards rushing and two touchdowns for State. In an intriguing matchup this week, the Bulldogs play host to the Arizona Wildcats.

11. South Carolina (Last week 9) 

In the Battle of the Carolinas the South Carolina Gamecocks suffered a disappointing loss to the North Carolina Tar Heels. Spencer Rattler had a lot of yards passing, 353, on a 30/39 passing night, but he was sacked 9 times and the Gamecocks couldn't mount a rushing attack to help him as they finished with negative rushing yards (-2). They'll need to improve a lot between now and Sept. 16 when they visit Athens to take on Georgia. They'll get a chance to get things right against Furman this week.

12. Missouri (Last week 13) 

The Tigers had a decent win against South Dakota Thursday night. After exploding for 28 points in the first half, Mizzou was only able to score one touchdown the rest of the game. Quarterback Brady Cook threw for 171 yards with a completion percentage of 81%. The Tiger's ground game was led by Cody Schrader with 138 yards and a touchdown. Mizzou welcomes the Blue Raiders from Middle Tennessee to Columbia this week.

13. Vanderbilt (Last week 14) 

The Commodores followed up their big win over Hawaii last week with a blowout of Alabama A&M. A.J. Swann led a balanced offense with 194 yards passing and two touchdowns, while Sedrick Alexander averaged over seven yards per carry with two touchdowns. Vandy hits the road for a matchup with Wake Forest on Saturday.

14. Florida (Last week 12) 

The Gators drop two spots after an ugly road loss to Utah. Graham Mertz, the Wisconsin transfer, looked good when he had time to throw, but the offensive line couldn't protect him as he was running for his life most of the night and was sacked five times. Mertz finished with 333 yards on 31/44 passing, but got no help from Trevor Etienne or any of the other running backs as the offensive line couldn't open any holes. The Gators could only muster a pathetic 13 yards rushing. Florida just didn't look like a team that can compete in the SEC this year. They welcome McNeese State this Saturday before their big game with Tennessee in two weeks.

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