- No. 11 – South Carolina Gamecocks (1-1)
Last week: 11
The Gamecocks were in this category last week, and they can’t do anything about playing Furman. It’s who they had on the schedule, and they did what they were supposed to do, winning 47-21. Spencer Rattler threw for 345 yards, 3 TDs, and only had 2 incompletions. Backup QB LaNorris Sellers went 4-for-4 with 2 TDs. The Paladins also scored late, or else the Gamecocks would have wound up winning by 33 points. This week, South Carolina is at Georgia. That should be… fun.
- No. 10 – Mississippi State Bulldogs (2-0)
Last week: 13
Is Mississippi State good? I’m not sure. Is Arizona good? I don’t think so. But when one power conference team beats another power conference team, that should always count for a pretty good win. Will Rogers also only had to throw 17 passes in the win – 3 of them ending up in TDs. Instead, the Bulldogs just continued to run the ball and the Wildcats had no answer on defense. But in overtime, Mississippi State changed it up, which is where one of Rogers’ 3 touchdowns came. Talk about making adjustments on the fly. Kudos to the 2-0 Bulldogs.
- No. 9 – Arkansas Razorbacks (2-0)
Last week: 8
Arkansas moves down a spot but it’s just the luck of the draw for starting out with two fairly easy games. Kent State lost to UCF, 56-6, so an Arkansas win of 28-6 was pretty much expected, if not a bit underwhelming. The Razorbacks’ defense stepped up to the plate, but KJ Jefferson didn’t have a great game, only completing 13-of-19 passes for 136 yards and 2 TDs. The Arkansas ground attack did some damage, but in a whopping 45 carries, the team only averaged 3.8 yards. Heading into a game against BYU, Arkansas will need to be more efficient on offense.
- No. 8 – Kentucky Wildcats (2-0)
Last week: 7
Kentucky football is 2-0, and ten years ago that would have been a celebration, it’s become an expectation at this point. And the Wildcats didn’t get to 2-0 in the prettiest of ways. UK struggled with in-state rival Eastern Kentucky, only winning 28-17. Of course, Kentucky football is a brand, and EKU should have never really been a threat. Although, for the third straight matchup, the Colonels have put up a fight. Maybe it’s time for the Wildcats to stop scheduling them. One of these days, the impossible is going to happen. On Saturday, the Cats play Akron, another game that won’t push the needle, but should help them reach 3-0 pretty seamlessly.
- No. 7 – Texas A&M Aggies (1-1)
Last week: 6
The Aggies were only at No. 6 last week, and given every SEC team behind them, couldn’t move down much more. But that’s not to say they didn’t have a bad week, losing to Miami (Fla) by 2 touchdowns. Conner Weigman threw 2 picks, which pretty much sealed the Aggies’ fate. On the other side, Tyler Van Dyke had 5 passing TDs and 0 INTs, which definitely sealed their fate. This game was supposed to potentially vault Texas A&M into consideration of a top-tier SEC team, but instead, it keeps them outside of the big picture.
- No. 6 – Auburn Tigers (2-0)
Last week: 10
Who knew that a win over Cal could mean so much? With so many teams ahead of Auburn in the power rankings just not doing much to move the needle, the Tigers won at a tough Cal team, 14-10. Was it pretty? Absolutely not. But it showed how strong of a defense Auburn has and why, two games, in, they were being slept on in the preseason polls. Week 3 should be a win over Samford, but week 4 at Texas A&M has suddenly turned into a very pivotal SEC matchup for both sides.
- No. 5 – LSU Tigers (1-1)
Last week: 5
LSU dropped 72 points on Grambling, which kind of makes me forget about them losing to Florida State by 21. Not really, but still, that’s one heck of an offensive performance. The Tigers may have hurt their College Football Playoff chances, but we now know what this offense is (kind of) capable of. Jayden Daniels was unstoppable with 5 TDs and the rushing attack also accounted for 5 TDs. That’s 10 TDs in one game, which against anyone, is commendable.