November has officially arrived, and with it comes the realization that the margin for error in the SEC has shrunk to absolute zero. If the first two months of the season were about positioning and survival, the final stretch is a pure, unadulterated high-stakes drag race to Atlanta and the 12-team College Football Playoff bracket.
Week 9 gave a handful of the conference’s true heavyweights a chance to catch their breath on a well-timed bye week, but the teams that did step onto the gridiron provided plenty of fireworks. We watched top-tier contenders flex their muscles in high-profile rivalry games, while the volatile middle class of this league continues to chew each other up Saturday after Saturday.
Georgia made a statement with a convincing 27-8 victory over Florida, Texas looked the part in a 31-3 win over Mississippi State, and Missouri delivered a brutal 34-10 defeat to Arkansas. Meanwhile, Kentucky continues to build an impressive resume, even with a bye week separating the Wildcats from their next opportunity to prove themselves.
With elite matchups looming that will completely reshape the postseason landscape, there is nowhere left to hide. Ahead of an absolute blockbuster slate of games, here is how the conference hierarchy shapes up in our official Week 10 Power Rankings.
SEC Week 10 Consensus Power Rankings
Each team receives 16 points for a first-place vote, 15 for second, and so on, down to one point for a 16th-place vote. With three ballots, the maximum possible score is 48 points.
| Rank | Team | Points | Caleb | Craig | Matt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Georgia | 47 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| 2 | Kentucky | 46 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| 3 | Ole Miss | 39 | 5 | 3 | 4 |
| 4 | Alabama | 38 | 4 | 4 | 5 |
| 5 | LSU | 37 | 6 | 5 | 3 |
| 6 | Texas | 35 | 3 | 7 | 6 |
| 7 | Missouri | 31 | 7 | 6 | 7 |
| 8 | Tennessee | 26 | 8 | 9 | 8 |
| 9 | South Carolina | 25 | 9 | 8 | 9 |
| 10 | Florida | 21 | 10 | 10 | 10 |
| T-11 | Oklahoma | 15 | 11 | 14 | 11 |
| T-11 | Auburn | 15 | 12 | 12 | 12 |
| 13 | Mississippi State | 14 | 13 | 11 | 13 |
| 14 | Texas A&M | 10 | 14 | 13 | 14 |
| 15 | Arkansas | 6 | 15 | 15 | 15 |
| 16 | Vanderbilt | 3 | 16 | 16 | 16 |
The Top Tier: Georgia and Kentucky Are in a Class of Their Own
Georgia and Kentucky have separated themselves from the rest of the conference in our consensus rankings, and the numbers make that clear.
The Bulldogs hold the top spot with 47 points, just one ahead of Kentucky’s 46. Both teams received a first-place vote from Caleb and Matt for Georgia and Craig for Kentucky. The difference is essentially a matter of preference, not a lack of respect for either program.
Georgia’s 27-8 victory over Florida was exactly the kind of performance expected from a team with championship aspirations. The Bulldogs forced four turnovers and looked much more like the complete team many expected entering the season.
Kentucky, meanwhile, continues to be one of the biggest surprises in college football. The Wildcats are 7-1, have won six straight games, and sit alone atop the SEC standings. Their upcoming matchup with Tennessee offers another opportunity to demonstrate that their place among the conference’s elite is deserved.
The gap between the top two and the rest of the conference is already five points. Ole Miss, Alabama and LSU make up the next group, but none has quite earned the same level of consensus support.
The Contenders: Ole Miss, Alabama, LSU and Texas
Ole Miss comes in at No. 3 with 39 points. Craig is the highest on the Rebels, placing them third, while Matt has them fourth and Caleb fifth. The Rebels face a massive opportunity against Georgia this week. A win would dramatically change the SEC and national playoff conversations.
Alabama sits fourth with 38 points. The Crimson Tide are remarkably consistent across the three ballots, receiving fourth-place votes from Caleb and Craig and a fifth-place vote from Matt. That makes Alabama one of the most stable teams in our rankings.
LSU is fifth with 37 points, but the Tigers have the widest range of opinions among this group. Matt has LSU third, Craig fifth and Caleb sixth. The Tigers are coming off a bye week and now face a difficult stretch that will determine how seriously they should be considered in the conference race.
Texas checks in at No. 6 with 35 points. Caleb is much higher on the Longhorns, placing them third after their dominant 31-3 victory over Mississippi State. Craig has Texas seventh, while Matt puts the Longhorns sixth. The offense has plenty of talent behind Arch Manning, and the defense is beginning to resemble the unit many expected before the season.
Missouri rounds out the top seven. The Tigers have quietly earned a respectable position in the rankings, and their 34-10 dismantling of Arkansas was another reminder that they can be dangerous when playing well.
The Middle Class: Tennessee and South Carolina Hold Their Ground
Tennessee and South Carolina are separated by just one point in the consensus rankings.
Tennessee sits eighth with 26 points, while South Carolina follows at ninth with 25. All of us have the Volunteers between eighth and ninth, and we all three have South Carolina between eighth and ninth as well. That’s a remarkably tight level of agreement.
Florida comes in at No. 10, with all three of us placing the Gators exactly there. Their 27-8 loss to Georgia was a difficult result, and the Gators have some work to do if they want to climb back into the conference conversation.
Oklahoma and Auburn are tied at No. 11 with 15 points apiece. The Sooners receive two 11th-place votes but fall to 14th on Craig’s ballot. Auburn, on the other hand, receives a 12th-place ranking from all three voters. That consistency gives the Tigers the same overall score as Oklahoma despite never appearing higher than the Sooners on an individual ballot.
Mississippi State follows at No. 13. Texas A&M is 14th, while Arkansas and Vanderbilt occupy the bottom two positions.
The Bottom: Arkansas and Vanderbilt Remain in Trouble
There isn’t much debate at the bottom of the SEC.
All three of us have Arkansas at No. 15 and Vanderbilt at No. 16. The Razorbacks were thoroughly beaten by Missouri, losing 34-10, and now need to find a way to salvage the remainder of their season.
Vanderbilt remains the conference’s lowest-ranked team. The Commodores are still searching for their first SEC victory, and while they’ve shown they can compete against nonconference opponents, the results against league competition haven’t been there.
The bottom two teams are the only programs where all three of us agree on the exact ranking. At this point, neither has done enough to change that perception.
Individual Rankings
Caleb
- Georgia | Georgia stays at No. 1 after handling Florida 27-8. The Bulldogs forced four turnovers and continue to look like one of the most complete teams in the country.
- Kentucky | Kentucky has been one of the biggest surprises in the SEC. The Wildcats are legitimate championship contenders. They’ve won six straight games, and I think they’re being overlooked nationally. They deserve to be right alongside Georgia at the top.
- Texas | Texas looked dominant in its 31-3 win over Mississippi State. Arch Manning and the offense have plenty of talent, and the defense is beginning to look like what we expected coming into the season.
- Alabama
- Ole Miss
- LSU
- Missouri
- Tennessee
- South Carolina
- Florida
- Oklahoma
- Auburn
- Mississippi State
- Texas A&M
- Arkansas | The Razorbacks are running out of opportunities to turn their season around. They need to find more consistency on both sides of the ball.
- Vanderbilt | Vanderbilt remains at the bottom after going winless in its first five SEC games. The Commodores have shown they can compete against nonconference opponents, but they haven’t demonstrated that they can consistently compete with SEC competition.
Craig
- Kentucky | Bye week for Kentucky leaves them on top of my rankings. This team will have a chance to earn their spot against Tennessee this coming week.
- Georgia | The Bulldogs rolled over Florida improving their resume to 7-1. I don’t know how much longer I can keep Georgia out of the number one spot.
- Ole Miss | The Rebels will have to beat Georgia this week to keep their playoff hopes alive. It will be an uphill battle, but they have definitely have the talent to get it done.
- Alabama
- LSU
- Missouri
- Texas
- South Carolina
- Tennessee
- Florida
- Mississippi State
- Auburn
- Texas A&M
- Oklahoma
- Arkansas | Arkansas got absolutely throttled by Missouri. Another winnable game against Auburn is next.
- Vanderbilt | Vanderbilt will get to take on Mississippi State after a week of rest. Good opportunity for them to pickup a win.
Matt
- Georgia | This time, the Bulldogs earned my top spot with their helmets strapped on. Kirby Smart’s squad made a massive statement in Atlanta, completely dismantling rival Florida 27-8. After the wake-up call against Auburn, the Dawgs look refocused, imposing, and perfectly positioned for the final push.
- Kentucky | The “win ugly” masters have a phenomenal 7-1 resume and hold onto the No. 2 spot ahead of a legacy-defining road test on Rocky Top.
- LSU | I’m keeping the Tigers in the same spot coming off the Week 9 bye. However, a monstrous three-game gauntlet looms on the horizon.
- Ole Miss
- Alabama
- Texas
- Missouri
- Tennessee
- South Carolina
- Florida
- Oklahoma
- Auburn
- Mississippi State
- Texas A&M
- Arkansas | Any hope the Hogs had of using their off-week momentum to scramble the SEC’s middle tier vaporized in a hurry. Missouri walked into Fayetteville and absolutely suffocated Arkansas in a brutal 34-10 beatdown.
- Vanderbilt | Bedrock has a basement, and Vandy still owns the lease. The Commodores sat out Week 9 on a bye, which at least gave freshman quarterback Jared Curtis a week to escape the constant duress he’s been facing. Still, as the lone winless team in SEC conference play, they anchor the bottom tier until further notice.
Where We Agree — And Where We Don’t
The consensus rankings reveal some clear patterns. We have a strong agreement on the top two, plenty of consistency throughout the middle, and a few teams that generated significantly different opinions.
The biggest areas of agreement
- Georgia and Kentucky: All three of us have the Bulldogs and Wildcats in their top two. Caleb and Matt favor Georgia, while Craig gives Kentucky the top spot. The difference between the two teams in the consensus rankings is only one point.
- Tennessee and South Carolina: All three of us place both teams between eighth and ninth. The Volunteers edge the Gamecocks by one point in the consensus standings.
- Florida: All three of us have the Gators at exactly No. 10. There isn’t any disagreement about where Florida belongs this week.
- Auburn: All three of us place the Auburn Tigers at No. 12. That’s a rare example of complete agreement on a team outside the top 10.
- The bottom two: Arkansas is 15th and Vanderbilt is 16th on every ballot. No discussion necessary.
Where we were way off
Texas is the biggest example of disagreement near the top. Caleb has the Longhorns third, while Craig puts them seventh. Matt lands at sixth. That’s a four-position gap between the highest and lowest rankings. Caleb clearly believes the dominant win over Mississippi State is a sign that Texas is beginning to play like a legitimate contender.
LSU also generated some debate. Matt has the Tigers third, while Caleb places them sixth. Craig splits the difference at fifth. That three-position gap reflects different levels of confidence in a team coming off its bye week and preparing for a difficult stretch.
Oklahoma is another significant difference. Caleb and Matt both have the Sooners at No. 11, but Craig drops them to 14th. That makes Oklahoma one of the most divisive teams in the middle-to-lower portion of our rankings.
Mississippi State has a similar story. Craig ranks the Bulldogs 11th, while Caleb and Matt both put them 13th. The loss to Texas clearly affected their standing, but Craig remains a little more optimistic about where they belong.
Final Thoughts
The SEC is beginning to separate into distinct groups as November arrives. Georgia and Kentucky have established themselves as the conference’s top two teams, but the next group is packed with programs that still have an opportunity to make a serious postseason statement.
Ole Miss has a massive opportunity against Georgia. Kentucky gets its chance to prove itself against Tennessee. LSU faces a difficult stretch, while Texas is beginning to look like the team many expected before the season began.
The middle of the conference remains unpredictable, and the bottom two teams have plenty of work to do if they want to change their standing.
The road to Atlanta is getting shorter, the stakes are getting higher, and there is very little room left for mistakes. Week 10 should provide another major shakeup in the SEC hierarchy.