Week 4 CI SEC Power Rankings

Week 4 of the college football regular season is in the books. Kentucky had its first bye week of the season but many other teams across the conference were in action.

Thus, there’s movement in the Cats Illustrated SEC Power Rankings.

1. LSU

We wanted to see LSU take a team to the woodshed after looking so-so against Louisiana Tech and because that Week 1 win at Clemson doesn’t look nearly as significant in hindsight. LSU did just that in a 56-10 win against Southeast Louisiana. Garrett Nussmeier was almost perfect but the run game didn’t really get on track.

2. Georgia

Georgia may have the highest floor in the conference because of Kirby Smart’s track record and what you know about the defense and physicality. On top of that the Bulldogs took Tennessee’s best shot at won in Knoxville. UGA gets Alabama at home next. If the Dawgs win that game they can all but punch their ticket to the playoff because that would be two excellent wins.

3. Oklahoma

Brent Venables has a good thing going. Oklahoma has wins against Michigan and Auburn and that’s about as good a pair of wins as you will find this year. The defense set a program record with 10 sacks in Saturday’s win against Auburn. John Mateer put up nice numbers again but this one was very close and officiating helped the Sooners survive. Oklahoma has a bye and then gets Kent State at home so the Sooners should be 5-0 when the Texas game happens.

4. Texas

Arch Manning finally had a breakout game. He was 18-21 for 309 yards, three touchdowns, and no picks in an almost flawless performance against Sam Houston State. Texas won 55-0 and absolutely dominated the game in every facet. Usually we would look at 600 yards for Texas against a team like that and shrug, but we needed to see it from Texas after some early season struggles. The opponent just wasn’t good enough for us to move Texas up more.

5. Alabama

Alabama is one of many hard to place teams in the SEC through Week 4. The Crimson Tide took a tumble in our rankings and in the national collective college football consciousness after losing to Florida State in Week 1. The Tide looked a lot better in its next two games and now they travel to Georgia where the Bulldogs are 3.5-point favorites. Alabama has played very well against Georgia in recent years and if they win that one it would be a huge momentum boost for Kalen DeBoer in his second year.

6. Texas A&M

Texas A&M has a road win at Notre Dame and the Aggies don’t have any losses. That counts for quite a bit. The Aggies are 7.5-point favorites at home against Auburn this coming weekend. Winning that one would be a great start to league play. There’s a good chance that win at Notre Dame looks very good at the end of the season even though the Irish started the year 0-2.

7. Ole Miss

Even with QB Austin Simmons out of action Ole Miss did a number on Tulane in a 45-10 blowout. The Green Wave went into the weekend as one of the non-power conference contenders for the playoff but Jon Sumrall’s squad didn’t have enough offense to keep up with the Rebels. Backup QB Trinidad Chambliss had 307 yards passing and two touchdowns and 112 yards rushing, showing excellent dual-threat ability. At the same time, Ole Miss had single score wins against Arkansas and Kentucky, two teams picked to finish towards the bottom of the league. Ole Miss has played more quality opponents than most of the league. While wins against Kentucky, Arkansas, and Tulane are more than most teams have on their resume, we still haven’t seen the Rebels against a top tier opponent.

8. Missouri

There are many directions you could go here but Missouri looked like a quality and well-balanced team in a 29-20 home win against South Carolina. Even though LaNorris Sellers made a couple of ridiculous throws the Tigers rushed for about 300 more yards than the Gamecocks and held on at home to stay undefeated. Missouri is 25-5 in its last 30 games.

9. Tennessee

The Volunteers could conceivably still end up ranked much higher here. After all, they had Georgia on the ropes and appear to have more explosiveness than did last year’s team. UT has blown out Syracuse, which just won at Clemson, and looks like it could be competitive against any team in the conference. Tennessee ranking in this spot is a testament to the strength of the SEC.

10. Vanderbilt

Vanderbilt has looked like one of the most polished teams in the conference and could rank a couple of spots higher here, but we’re going with talent in this tier. The Commodores beat Georgia State 70-21 and Diego Pavia was efficient and effective, passing for 245 yards and rushing for 86 and another touchdown. Vanderbilt is undefeated and ranked inside the top-20 so any team in the league would be wise to take them seriously.

11. Auburn

Hugh Freeze has to be wondering what he can do to catch a break. The SEC got out in front of the worst missed call in Auburn’s loss to Oklahoma but it still goes down as a loss. They have to find a way to win more of these close games. Auburn’s offensive line has to play a lot better than it did against Oklahoma. The Tigers did stuff the run, at least.

12. Arkansas

See: Auburn. Arkansas has to find a way to win more close games. It’s impressive how the Hogs have the ability to score and hang around against high quality competition. They nearly won at Ole Miss. But then they blew a lead against Memphis and lost to the Tigers on the road on Saturday. One or both of those games has to be a win. You still can’t write this team off because of Taylen Green’s ability to move the ball and put pressure on the defense.

13. Mississippi State

Right now Mississippi State looks like the most improved team in the SEC but we’re putting a lot on that earlier home win against Arizona State. MSU took down Northern Illinois 38-10 over the weekend. They did it by running the ball 49 times and attempting only 20 passes. The bad news is the schedule gets much tougher from here.

14. South Carolina

The Gamecocks have squandered whatever hype they came into the season with, but in the portal era hype has to be earned each year. South Carolina had negative rushing yardage against Missouri and the Gamecocks lost 29-20 on the road. The Gamecocks’ resume also includes an ugly win against a bad Virginia Tech team and a 31-7 loss to Vanderbilt.

15. Florida

DJ Lagway had an absolutely brutal game in a 26-7 loss at Miami. He was 12/23 for 61 yards, just 2.7 yards per attempt. Florida’s defense played well but the offense was completely off the rails. Losing at home to South Florida and getting handled on the road by Miami puts Billy Napier right back on the hot seat.

16. Kentucky

Needless to say this weekend’s game at South Carolina is huge for the Wildcats. If you lose to South Carolina it’s fair to ask what conference games are going to be on the table this year. Then again, that’s been a question we have asked for a while now. The offense looked better with Cutter Boley under center against Eastern Michigan but on the road at Williams Brice Stadium is a different challenge altogether.