Cats Illustrated's Week 8 SEC Power Rankings

The Southeastern Conference had a monster slate of games on tap for the Week 8 college football schedule so movement in the Cats Illustrated league Power Rankings was almost inevitable.

But we’re also balancing more than half a season worth of results as we do these rankings.

Here’s the latest after what we watched during Week 8.

1. Alabama

Alabama notched yet another impressive win against a top-25 opponent in handling Tennessee at home. The Crimson Tide continues to stay red hot and Ty Simpson is building a great case for the Heisman Trophy. Right now Alabama looks like as strong a national title contender as the SEC has.

2. Georgia

Toughness. Georgia’s known for it and it was on display as the Bulldogs showed tremendous fourth quarter grit and poise coming from two scores down to beat Ole Miss at home. UGA scored every time it had the ball and Gunner Stockton started to look like a quarterback who can take them a long way.

3. Texas A&M

The Aggies have a road win at Notre Dame and have otherwise taken care of business. They’re in the top-5 nationally and are building a strong playoff resume. The Aggies took care of Arkansas in Bobby Petrino’s first game as the interim coach in Fayetteville.

4. Ole Miss

Ole Miss raced out to a top-5 national ranking and there was a home win against LSU but it’s fair to question the overall strength of its schedule to date. It had a chance to put all those fears to rest against Georgia and the Rebels had a nine-point lead in the fourth quarter. But they couldn’t finish. Here’s the thing. Ole Miss could very well win out if it beats Oklahoma this weekend. They would be 11-1 in that scenario which would get them in the playoff even without more quality wins.

5. Vanderbilt

It’s time to give the Commodores their due. They took care of business as home favorites against a top-10 LSU team and have a chance to win several more games the rest of the season. Vandy isn’t much different than Ole Miss in resume. LSU is the best win for both teams. Vandy dominated inferior competition before that. Missouri comes to Nashville this weekend. If the Dores win that it sets up a huge game at Texas the following week.

6. Tennessee

Tennessee moves up the SEC power rankings even losing to Alabama because we’ve continued to learn about more teams in the league. While the Volunteers have two losses those were to Georgia and Alabama. The hardest game remaining for UT is Oklahoma but that’s in Knoxville. Tennessee’s other games are against UK, New Mexico State, Florida, and Vanderbilt. If it wins out, would 10-2 with best wins against Oklahoma and Vanderbilt be enough?

7. Oklahoma

OU turned in a dominant defensive performance against South Carolina, allowing 224 yards and allowing only 3/15 third down conversions. The Sooners’ offense didn’t do much but OU is 2-1 in SEC play. The problem is the schedule down the stretch. Oklahoma’s remaining schedule is Ole Miss Tennessee, Alabama, Missouri, and LSU. Five games, five top-20 opponents. Ouch. The good news is OU may be able to lose another game and remaining in the playoff conversation but that’s a brutal stretch.

8. Missouri

The Tigers continue to roll along against a relatively favorable SEC schedule but that’s not a total knock. Drinkwitz is doing an excellent job. The Tigers go on the road to Vanderbilt this weekend and that should be an excellent matchup.

9. LSU

Is it fair to say the Tigers are just a disappointment at this point? We keep waiting for LSU to kick it into high gear and 5-2 isn’t awful, but it’s more of the same from Brian Kelly at LSU. Good but not good enough. LSU has only scored more than 24 points one time this season.

10. Texas

Arch Manning is not a good quarterback at this point in his career and he was really bad against Kentucky. The defense was the best unit on the field for either team however and managed to hold UK to one touchdown. We’ve seen Texas’ defense is good enough to let them hang around or even jump up and beat a good team, but the offense doesn’t look like it will give the Horns a chance to reach their preseason goals.

11. Arkansas

Arkansas just finds ways to lose games. The Hogs fell to Texas A&M 45-42. They’ve lost to Tennessee 34-31, Memphis 32-31, and Ole Miss 41-35. This team is clearly much better than its 2-4 (0-3 SEC) record but you have to close games.

12. Florida

Billy Napier is out and that makes Florida a very attractive opening. We’ll have to wait to see how the Gators respond to interim coach Billy Gonzales. Florida has been competitive in most games this season and has played four games against teams ranked in the top ten at the time of those contests. It’s brutal down the stretch, too. Having to scrap to squeak by Mississippi State at home while the Bulldogs are still in rebuild mode was telling.

13. Auburn

Auburn has been similar to Arkansas, just the version with better defense than offense. The Tigers lost another close one to Mizzou over the weekend. That’s four straight losses in conference play, none by more than 10. There are chances for wins down the stretch but this last month of football probably means Auburn will be looking to make a change soon.

14. Mississippi State

MSU has a better overall record than some teams ranked ahead but the Bulldogs are now 0-3 in SEC play. Two of those three losses were one score games, Tennessee and Florida, but they will be underdogs the rest of the way.

15. South Carolina

The season has officially become a dip year for Shane Beamer. The good news is he has shown he can turn a team around in an offseason but the Gamecocks were lackluster if competitive in a 26-7 home loss to Oklahoma. USC’s defense has been fine this season but the offense has averaged only 20.1 points per game. USC can’t run the ball well and the passing game hasn’t been good enough to carry the unit.

16. Kentucky

The Wildcats had Texas on the ropes at home but couldn’t close the deal. UK had a chance against Ole Miss at Kroger Field as well but couldn’t finish. Games that used to be wins have become games that are now losses. There were a lot of positives against Texas but breakdowns in the overall operation, failures at bad moments, and decisions have come into question.