Welcome to the Week 6 SEC Power Rankings, where any leftover preseason scripts have been officially thrown into a tire fire.

If you thought this conference was going to follow a predictable, orderly path to Atlanta, last weekend completely shattered that illusion. We just witnessed a chaotic, foundational shakeup that absolutely re-wrote the landscape of the league. From Georgia asserting its dominance in a heavyweight slugfest to Oklahoma pulling off a shocking Red River upset, the hierarchy of this conference is in absolute anarchy. In the SEC, the margin between a College Football Playoff bid and a systemic collapse is razor-thin, and our updated rankings pull zero punches. Grab your coffee and lock in, because it looks like October is going to be an absolute war.

Georgia has claimed the top spot unanimously. Alabama remains firmly entrenched at No. 2 despite its narrow loss to the Bulldogs, while Ole Miss has used a dominant performance against Vanderbilt to push into the top three. Missouri and Texas round out the top five, and Oklahoma’s Red River victory has the Sooners climbing into the top half of our consensus rankings.

At the other end of the board, Vanderbilt has reclaimed the cellar, Arkansas remains stuck at the bottom, and South Carolina has at least shown signs of life with a victory over Florida.

Three voters. Sixteen teams. One conference that refuses to sit still.

Let’s get into it.

The Consensus SEC Power Rankings

Our scoring system awards 16 points for a first-place vote, 15 for second, and so on down to one point for 16th. With three ballots, 48 points is the maximum possible score.

Rank	Team	Points	Caleb	Craig	Matt
1	Georgia	48	1	1	1
2	Alabama	45	2	2	2
3	Ole Miss	41	4	3	3
4	Missouri	38	3	4	6
5	Texas	36	6	5	4
6	Kentucky	30	5	8	8
7	Tennessee	29	9	6	7
8	LSU	27	10	9	5
9	Oklahoma	25	7	10	9
10	Mississippi State	23	8	7	13
11	Florida	18	11	12	10
12	South Carolina	17	12	11	11
T-13	Auburn	11	13	13	14
T-13	Texas A&M	11	14	14	12
15	Vanderbilt	5	15	15	16
16	Arkansas	4	16	16	15

The top of the board is much clearer than it was a week ago. Georgia and Alabama are the consensus top two, and Ole Miss has separated itself from the next group. But from Missouri at No. 4 through Mississippi State at No. 10, the rankings tell a much more complicated story.

The Individual Rankings

Caleb

Georgia | After beating Alabama on the road Georgia proves they are the best team in the SEC and probably the country. The Bulldogs are the SEC’s lone undefeated team in conference play and have proven they can win the biggest games
Alabama | Despite losing to Georgia, Alabama stays near the top. The Crimson Tide were competitive throughout a heavyweight matchup, and their overall résumé still makes them one of the SEC’s strongest teams.
Missouri | The Tigers have shown they can win on both sides of the ball, and with Alabama losing to Georgia and Oklahoma already ranked behind them in this power ranking, Missouri has a strong case to move into the top three.
Ole Miss
Kentucky
Texas
Oklahoma
Mississippi State
Tennessee
LSU
Florida
South Carolina
Auburn
Texas A&M
Vanderbilt | Vanderbilt remains near the bottom after struggling in conference play. The Commodores need a signature SEC win to show they can compete with the middle and upper tiers of the league.
Arkansas | Arkansas stays last after another difficult stretch. The Razorbacks are still searching for their first SEC win and need to improve against conference opponents to climb the rankings.

Craig

Georgia | The Bulldogs took care of business on the road against Alabama. I’ve previously said they were the most well rounded team in the conference, and now they’ve proven it.
Alabama | Bama is going to stay up at the top for me despite the loss to Georgia. It was a 3 point loss that easily could have been a win if they had taken care of the ball. We haven’t seen the last of the Crimson Tide just yet.
Ole Miss |The Rebels bounced back with a dominant performance over Vanderbilt. Ole Miss is going to have a very good season.
Missouri
Texas
Tennessee
Mississippi State
Kentucky
LSU
Oklahoma
South Carolina
Florida
Auburn
Texas A&M
Vanderbilt | All is right in the world. Vanderbilt is back at the bottom of the SEC. The most daunting stat is that they are only averaging 15 points per game in their three conference matchups.
Arkansas | There’s bad, and then there’s Arkansas. At least they kept it close against Tennessee.

Matt

Georgia | Stop the debate: Georgia has answered every single question thrown their way. The week before, it was handling business against Vanderbilt, but going into Tuscaloosa and escaping with a gut-check 20-17 victory over Alabama cements them as the undisputed kings of the conference.
Alabama | Dropping a 20-17 battle to Georgia doesn’t push Kalen DeBoer’s squad down—it slides them right into the No. 2 spot for me. The Tide traded heavy blows with the best team in the country and came up just three points short. This team is an absolute freight train that can score from anywhere on the field, and despite the heartbreak, they confirmed their championship DNA.
Ole Miss | Welcome to the top three. After stumbling against Florida a few weeks ago, the Rebels absolutely exploded on Saturday by turning Vanderbilt into a 52-17 punching bag. The offense looked entirely unstoppable, dialing up explosive plays at will and suffocating any hope Vandy had of keeping it close.
Texas
LSU
Missouri
Tennessee
Kentucky
Oklahoma
Florida
South Carolina
Texas A&M
Mississippi State
Auburn
Arkansas | The Razorbacks remain firmly parked at number 15 because even when they show fight, it’s not enough to move the needle. They welcomed Tennessee to Fayetteville and pushed them to the absolute limit before falling in a tight 24-17 battle.
Vanderbilt | Things have officially hit rock bottom for the Commodores, and they take over the cellar after a 52-17 humiliation at the hands of Ole Miss.

Georgia Is the Undisputed King of the SEC

There is no debate at the top of this week’s rankings.

All three of us have Georgia at No. 1. The Bulldogs earned 48 of a possible 48 points.

Caleb — No. 1 Georgia

After beating Alabama on the road Georgia proves they are the best team in the SEC and probably the country. The Bulldogs are the SEC’s lone undefeated team in conference play and have proven they can win the biggest games.

Craig — No. 1 Georgia

The Bulldogs took care of business on the road against Alabama. I’ve previously said they were the most well rounded team in the conference, and now they’ve proven it.

Matt — No. 1 Georgia

Stop the debate: Georgia has answered every single question thrown their way. The week before, it was handling business against Vanderbilt, but going into Tuscaloosa and escaping with a gut-check 20-17 victory over Alabama cements them as the undisputed kings of the conference.

The common thread is unmistakable: Georgia has demonstrated that it can win a heavyweight matchup away from home.

The Bulldogs didn’t need a blowout to make their case. They needed to survive one of the toughest environments in college football and finish the job. They did exactly that.

Georgia is No. 1 across the board, and there is no need for complicated consensus math to explain why.

Alabama Remains a Dangerous No. 2

Alabama also receives a unanimous ranking, with all three of us placing the Crimson Tide second.

The loss to Georgia hurts, but the performance didn’t convince any of us that Alabama belongs outside the top two.

Caleb — No. 2 Alabama

Despite losing to Georgia, Alabama stays near the top. The Crimson Tide were competitive throughout a heavyweight matchup, and their overall résumé still makes them one of the SEC’s strongest teams.

Craig — No. 2 Alabama

Bama is going to stay up at the top for me despite the loss to Georgia. It was a 3 point loss that easily could have been a win if they had taken care of the ball. We haven’t seen the last of the Crimson Tide just yet.

Matt — No. 2 Alabama

Dropping a 20-17 battle to Georgia doesn’t push Kalen DeBoer’s squad down—it slides them right into the No. 2 spot for me. The Tide traded heavy blows with the best team in the country and came up just three points short. This team is an absolute freight train that can score from anywhere on the field, and despite the heartbreak, they confirmed their championship DNA.

The agreement here is just as strong as it is with Georgia.

Nobody is treating a three-point loss to the nation’s top team as proof that Alabama has fallen apart. Instead, the Tide remain a legitimate championship contender, with enough offensive firepower to threaten anybody on the schedule.

Georgia currently owns the top spot. Alabama has every opportunity to challenge that hierarchy again before the season ends.

Ole Miss Crashes the Top Three

The biggest consensus development below the top two is Ole Miss moving into third place.

The Rebels earn 41 points, with Caleb ranking them fourth and Craig and Matt placing them third.

Craig — No. 3 Ole Miss

The Rebels bounced back with a dominant performance over Vanderbilt. Ole Miss is going to have a very good season.

Matt — No. 3 Ole Miss

Welcome to the top three. After stumbling against Florida a few weeks ago, the Rebels absolutely exploded on Saturday by turning Vanderbilt into a 52-17 punching bag. The offense looked entirely unstoppable, dialing up explosive plays at will and suffocating any hope Vandy had of keeping it close.

Craig and Matt are both buying into Ole Miss’s offensive ceiling after the Vanderbilt win. Caleb is more conservative about the Rebels and has Missouri ahead of them.

That disagreement doesn’t keep Ole Miss out of the top three, but it does set up one of the more interesting debates in this week’s rankings.

Missouri Makes a Strong Case at No. 4

Missouri lands fourth with 38 points, only three points behind Ole Miss.

Caleb has the Tigers third, Craig fourth and Matt sixth. That’s a relatively narrow range for a team sitting this high in the rankings, and it shows that all three voters see Missouri as a serious contender in the SEC’s upper half.

Caleb’s case is straightforward: the Tigers have shown they can win on both sides of the ball.

Matt is the least bullish, putting Missouri sixth, but that is still a top-tier placement.

Missouri’s position also underscores just how competitive the second tier has become. Ole Miss has the momentum, Missouri has a balanced profile, and Texas has the talent and résumé to make a move.

Texas Lands at No. 5

Texas finishes fifth with 36 points. Craig ranks the Longhorns fifth, Matt fourth and Caleb sixth.

That is another area of fairly strong agreement, with just a two-position spread between the highest and lowest ballots.

With the Red River Rivalry now in the rearview mirror, Texas and Oklahoma are moving in different directions in our rankings. The Sooners have the head-to-head win, but Texas still finishes comfortably ahead in the consensus.

Kentucky, Tennessee and LSU: Three Teams, Three Different Opinions

The next three positions belong to Kentucky, Tennessee and LSU.

Kentucky is sixth with 30 points, Tennessee seventh with 29, and LSU eighth with 27. The gap between all three is minimal.

But the ballots reveal some very different views.

Kentucky

Caleb is highest on Kentucky at fifth, while Craig and Matt both place the Wildcats eighth. The result is a sixth-place consensus ranking.

Tennessee

Craig has Tennessee sixth, Matt seventh and Caleb ninth. The Vols finish seventh overall, making them one of the more stable teams in this portion of the rankings.

LSU

Matt is the highest on LSU at fifth. Craig places the Tigers ninth, and Caleb has them 10th. That gives LSU 27 points and eighth place.

The biggest takeaway is that there isn’t much separating this group. One strong conference win could move any of these teams several spots upward, while a disappointing Saturday could send them in the other direction.

Oklahoma’s Red River Win Moves the Sooners Near The Top Half

Oklahoma is ninth in the consensus rankings, with 25 points.

Caleb has the Sooners seventh, Matt ninth and Craig 10th. That is a three-position spread, which is relatively modest given the attention surrounding the Red River Rivalry.

The Sooners are not yet viewed as a top-five SEC team by our panel, but they are firmly in the middle of the conference rankings and ahead of Mississippi State, Florida and South Carolina.

Oklahoma’s placement also shows that we are balancing a major rivalry win against the broader question of where the Sooners belong in the conference hierarchy.

The victory gives Oklahoma a boost, but there is still room for the Sooners to prove that they can consistently perform at a top-tier level.

Mississippi State Drops to No. 10

Mississippi State lands 10th with 23 points, just two points behind Oklahoma.

Craig is highest on the Bulldogs at seventh, Caleb places them eighth, and Matt drops them to 13th.

That five-position gap is one of the larger disagreements in the rankings.

The Mississippi State debate is about how much weight to give the team’s broader body of work compared with the most recent performance. Craig and Caleb see the Bulldogs as a top-eight team. Matt sees them near the bottom of the middle tier.

For now, the consensus puts Mississippi State at 10th, but we are clearly not on the same page.

Florida and South Carolina: A Narrow Gap

Florida finishes 11th with 18 points, while South Carolina follows at 12th with 17.

Matt is highest on Florida at 10th, followed by Caleb at 11th and Craig at 12th. South Carolina is more tightly grouped: Craig and Matt both have the Gamecocks 11th, while Caleb ranks them 12th.

That means South Carolina’s victory over Florida has not completely flipped the two teams in our rankings. Florida still finishes one point ahead, largely because Matt places the Gators a spot above South Carolina.

The Gamecocks have moved away from the bottom of the board, but they have not yet climbed into the conference’s middle tier.

Auburn and Texas A&M Share 13th Place

Auburn and Texas A&M each earn 11 points, leaving them tied for 13th.

The ballots are close enough that there is no need to force a tiebreaker.

Caleb has Auburn 13th and Texas A&M 14th.
Craig has Auburn 13th and Texas A&M 14th.
Matt has Texas A&M 12th and Auburn 14th.

Auburn is consistently ranked 13th or 14th. Texas A&M has a similar profile, although Matt gives the Aggies a slightly better position.

Neither team is being treated as a likely contender for the top of the conference right now, but both have room to climb with a meaningful SEC win.

The Bottom of the SEC: Vanderbilt and Arkansas

The bottom two positions are remarkably clear.

Vanderbilt finishes 15th with five points, while Arkansas is last with four. Caleb and Craig have Arkansas at 16th, while Matt puts the Razorbacks 15th and Vanderbilt 16th.

Caleb — No. 15 Vanderbilt

Vanderbilt remains near the bottom after struggling in conference play. The Commodores need a signature SEC win to show they can compete with the middle and upper tiers of the league.

Craig — No. 15 Vanderbilt

All is right in the world. Vanderbilt is back at the bottom of the SEC. The most daunting stat is that they are only averaging 15 points per game in their three conference matchups.

Matt — No. 16 Vanderbilt

Things have officially hit rock bottom for the Commodores, and they take over the cellar after a 52-17 humiliation at the hands of Ole Miss.

Caleb — No. 16 Arkansas

Arkansas stays last after another difficult stretch. The Razorbacks are still searching for their first SEC win and need to improve against conference opponents to climb the rankings.

Craig — No. 16 Arkansas

There’s bad, and then there’s Arkansas. At least they kept it close against Tennessee.

Matt — No. 15 Arkansas

The Razorbacks remain firmly parked at number 15 because even when they show fight, it’s not enough to move the needle. They welcomed Tennessee to Fayetteville and pushed them to the absolute limit before falling in a tight 24-17 battle.

Vanderbilt has officially taken over the cellar in the consensus rankings, but Arkansas is right behind them. Neither team has convinced us that it can compete consistently with the rest of the conference.

Where We Agree

The most obvious agreement is at the top.

Georgia is No. 1 on all three ballots, and Alabama is No. 2 on all three ballots. That is a rare level of consensus in a conference this competitive.

Ole Miss also has strong support, with two third-place votes and one fourth-place vote. Texas is similarly stable, landing between fourth and sixth on every ballot.

Other areas of agreement include:

Tennessee: 6th to 9th, with all three of us placing the Vols in the top nine.
Florida: 10th to 12th.
South Carolina: 11th to 12th.
Auburn: 13th to 14th.
Vanderbilt: 15th to 16th.
Arkansas: 15th to 16th.

The general shape of the rankings is clear: Georgia and Alabama lead, Ole Miss and Missouri headline the next tier, and the bottom of the conference is increasingly defined.

Where We Were Way Off

There are several notable disagreements, but four stand out.

1. Mississippi State: A six-position spread

Caleb: 8th
Craig: 7th
Matt: 13th

Matt is considerably lower on Mississippi State. This is the largest disagreement in the poll and the biggest reason the Bulldogs land at No. 10 rather than closer to the top eight.

2. LSU: A five-position spread

Caleb: 10th
Craig: 9th
Matt: 5th

Matt sees LSU as a top-five team, while Caleb and Craig put the Tigers in the lower portion of the top 10. That is a major difference in how the team is being evaluated.

3. Kentucky: A three-position spread

Caleb: 5th
Craig: 8th
Matt: 8th

Caleb is much more optimistic about Kentucky. His fifth-place ranking is the reason the Wildcats land sixth in the consensus instead of eighth.

4. Missouri: A three-position spread

Caleb: 3rd
Craig: 4th
Matt: 6th

Caleb has Missouri in the top three, while Matt sees the Tigers as a solid but less dominant sixth-place team. This is another key difference in the upper half of the rankings.

Ole Miss has a smaller but still meaningful spread, ranging from third to fourth. The Rebels are a consensus top-three team largely because Craig and Matt both put them third.

The Biggest Story: Georgia Is No. 1, but the SEC Race Is Far From Over

The Week 6 rankings establish a clear pecking order at the top, but they do not settle the SEC race.

Georgia has the strongest consensus résumé and has earned the No. 1 spot by beating Alabama on the road. Alabama remains second because the loss was close and the Crimson Tide still look like a serious threat. Ole Miss has surged into third after a dominant win, while Missouri and Texas remain close enough to challenge the Rebels.

Behind them, the conference is a weekly exercise in volatility. Kentucky, Tennessee, LSU, Oklahoma and Mississippi State are separated by relatively small margins, and the middle of the board could look very different after another weekend of SEC football.

At the bottom, Vanderbilt and Arkansas have the most work to do. South Carolina has moved out of the cellar, but the Gamecocks still need to prove that their win over Florida marks a genuine turning point.

For now, the hierarchy is clear:

Georgia is the king. Alabama is the challenger. Ole Miss is the rising threat. And the rest of the SEC is fighting to keep up.