Saturday Blitz
Fansided

SEC Football Power Rankings 2017: Week 3 Edition

By Hunter Kinniburgh

BATON ROUGE, LA - SEPTEMBER 09: Derrius Guice #5 of the LSU Tigers runs with the ball as Tavon Lawson #4 of the Chattanooga Mocs defends during the second half of a game at Tiger Stadium on September 9, 2017 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. (Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images)
BATON ROUGE, LA - SEPTEMBER 09: Derrius Guice #5 of the LSU Tigers runs with the ball as Tavon Lawson #4 of the Chattanooga Mocs defends during the second half of a game at Tiger Stadium on September 9, 2017 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. (Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
5 of 6
Next
(Photo by Mike Comer/Getty Images)
(Photo by Mike Comer/Getty Images) /

The Auburn Tigers fall down a few spots in this weeks SEC power rankings with their first loss of the 2017 season (and because of other teams’ wins). There’s no shame in losing a very close game against the defending national champs but Auburn should be better on offense than they showed and that’s where the trouble comes from.

Related Story: Auburn Football: 5 overreactions to Clemson loss

Auburn, led by Guz Malzahn, should be much better in the offensive gameplan than they were. Yes, Clemson has a great defense but the talent on the Auburn offense should’ve done better than they did. Stidham’s 79 passing yards will not cut it. Needless to say, offensive improvements are needed. The defense on the other hand was great. They limited a very dynamic offensive to just two touchdowns. If the offense can come along, then Auburn will be dangerous this fall. Till then, they remain a far away threat for Alabama. And I didn’t even mention the scrutiny of Malzahn, needless to say his time as head coach at Auburn is in jeopardy, more so than a week ago.

South Carolina has the look of a very dangerous team in the SEC East, one that could potentially find itself in the SEC Championship game at the end of the season. Both aspects of the team on offense and defense are looking good to start the season and that bodes well for Will Muschamp down the road of 2017.

Deebo Samuel was a man among boys as he returned a kickoff for a touchdown and then had a rushing touchdown not long after as well. Samuel is one to keep an eye on as one of the most dynamic playmakers in the conference, if not the country. Jake Bentley also continues to look like one of the top quarterbacks in the conference as he threw for a steady 187 yards and a TD. The defense was most impressive by shutting down an office that scored 72 points last week and a quarterback that threw seven TDs in Drew Lock. The Gamecocks will be a force throughout the rest of the season in 2017.

First off, I was impressed with Jake Fromm in this game. To make your first start ever on the road in South Bend against Notre Dame, that had to be nerve racking. But the young quarterback played a mostly error free game. He had a couple turnovers but he was mostly smart and made the plays needed to win.

Related Story: College football needs more games like Notre Dame-Georgia

The Georgia defense was good again as they played a close match. There were some costly penalties but the Bulldogs put it all together towards the end against the Fighting Irish. While this wasn’t a score fest, the Bulldogs do look like an SEC contender. They have the talent, they just need to keep progressing. The studs in the backfield (Chubb and Michel) are as good as any backs in the country and they’ll prove most beneficial when the SEC grind begins. If Fromm stays in and continues to improve, then the Bulldog offense will be dangerous.

Home/SEC