The SEC football power rankings for this week crown a new team atop the board, while other teams make moves up and down. After another weekend of SEC football, here are the power rankings.
Perhaps the SEC will learn that games in Texas against non-conference opponents are setups for failure.
At first, there was the standoff in Austin. Texas got a special home game against the Crimson Tide of Alabama, who many predicted to win this game going away. Yet, that didn’t happen, as the Alabama side took on a ferocious Texas fight.
In the end, Alabama came away victorious after a last-second field goal, sparing the Tide the taste of defeat in non-conference play for the first time since 2007.
Then, there came the Aggies of Texas A&M taking on the Appalachian State Mountaineers. It would be a misnomer to say the Aggies played football against the Mountaineers, given they only possessed the ball for 18 minutes out of a possible 60. Instead, Appalachian State played keep-away, successfully moving the ball on key downs to keep their drives alive.
Unlike the Alabama game, which ended in victory for the SEC side, the Aggies faced a tough battle that ended in defeat, as so many teams that play Appalachian State have.
Elsewhere, there were games going on that determined the fate of the SEC going forward this season. Kentucky managed to beat the Gators in the Swamp, meaning they’ve now taken three out of their last five contests against Florida. It remains to be seen whether Kentucky can keep up this great run, but there’s no reason they can’t do so.
Meanwhile, Arkansas managed to beat South Carolina after a 23-point fourth quarter. The Razorbacks may, indeed, not face the same dropoff that some had predicted for them.
Up north, the Volunteers of Tennessee took on the Pitt Panthers. It was Tennessee’s first game in the northeastern States since 1998, and they showed themselves up to the task. After it looked like Pitt was going to win big, the Vols came back, showed some heart, and managed to pull out an overtime thriller that left hearts pumping, as well as the hopes of a nascent Vol movement under Josh Heupel.
Here are the SEC football power rankings for week three.