Post-Week 5 SEC Power Rankings

To anyone reading this who spent yesterday as a victim of the dreaded fall wedding, I apologize. Sometimes, college football slates like yesterday's can become overhyped and sometimes fail to live up to expectations. Week five, however, did not disappoint. We were treated to four top-ten upsets, five if you include LSU falling to Ole Miss, although the Rebels entered the betting favorite.

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Now that we're already into the meat of the season, we can finally start to get a good look at things compared to preseason expectations. So today, we're going to break down my conference power rankings, along with each team's best takeaway through their first four/five games of the season.

• 1. University of Mississippi, Ole Miss (last game: won 24-19 vs. No. 4 LSU)

Best takeaway: This could be the year we see a run from the Rebels

The home team had won four consecutive games in previous renditions of the 'Magnolia Bowl' going into last Saturday. That streak is now five, despite many thinking it was LSU's game to lose. If I'm Brian Kelly, it's make-or-break time. But if I'm the always entertaining Lane Kiffin, I've got to be flying high following the demobilization of the once great Tiger offense. Trinidad Chambliss is starting to play like it's his job to lose, and good news for Kiffin, because he still has a quarterback with attributes worth drooling over waiting in the wings if necessary. Many thought last year would be the Ole Miss team to get the job done if there ever was one, but this team is also loaded on both sides of the ball, and it only has two currently ranked opponents on the schedule. The only problem with that is that they're road games, with both the Georgia Bulldogs and the Oklahoma Sooners. Kiffin will have his hands full, no doubt, but one thing's for certain: things are rolling in the SIP, and you'd better hop on the bandwagon before it's too late.

• 2. The University of Oklahoma (last game: won 24-17 vs. No. 22 Auburn in week four)

Best takeaway: Dr. Steven Shin exists

Sooner Nation was delivered a devastating blow in terms of news following week four's triumph over the Auburn Tigers. It was reported that star transfer quarterback John Mateer would miss at least a month with a broken hand. Dr. Steven Shin, who has been referred to as "the world's best hand surgeon," however, has a different plan for the once Heisman frontrunner. After a successful procedure, rumors started circulating that questioned Mateer's availability for the Red River Shootout as early as October 11. If Mateer can be healthy for even the games following the matchup with Texas, it would still be considered a huge success relative to the original projected November 1st return date.

• 3. Texas A&M University (last game: won 16-10 vs. Auburn)

Best takeaway: This team is finally legit, and the ceiling is sky-high

The culture is shifting over in Aggie-land, and the SEC needs to take notice. After a successful trip to Notre Dame in week three, Mike Elko and his team used the bye week to prepare to host the Auburn Tigers. While it wasn't exactly pretty, the Aggies escaped with a win nonetheless. After their first four games, this A&M team is starting to feel different than those before it. Their next two games on the schedule are favorable to say the least, as they will take on both the Florida Gators and the head-coach-less Arkansas Razorbacks. They more than have the talent to make a run, per 247sports, the Aggies field the nation's eighth highest ranked team in terms of talent  But if they want to be considered among the elites of the conference, they'll likely have to take two out of the big three remaining on their schedule, which are trips to LSU, Missouri, and an end-of-season date with the Texas Longhorns in Austin.

• 4. Vanderbilt University (last game: won 55-35 vs. Utah State)

Best takeaway: This team is one more big win away from being legit

The story coming from Clark Lea's Vanderbilt team over the last two seasons has been heartwarming and fun. But we've all spent a majority of that time waiting for this insanity run from Diego Pavia and co. to come to a halt. Instead, we've been proven wrong, week after week after week. The Commodores have a chance to shock the college football world again this week, with a trip to number ten-ranked Alabama coming up. Even if they can't get the job done in Tuscaloosa, expect them to stay relevant by maybe knocking off a team like LSU, Missouri, or even the Texas Longhorns down the road.

• 5. University of Missouri (last game: won 42-6 vs. UMass)

Best takeaway: The heir apparent to the Brady Cook era is cemented in stone

Many, including myself, had big questions about the Missouri Tigers heading into this year. This would be the determining factor that decides if they could call themselves SEC contenders. Well, it's time we take notice of the fact that's exactly what they're doing. Eli Drinkwitz is building a winning culture in Columbia, it appears, but don't worry, they'll have ample opportunity to prove it, as they'll bring in Alabama, Texas A&M, and Mississippi State. Throw in trips to Nashville to take on Vandy, a date with the Sooners in Norman, and the Tigers may just have themselves a path to the playoff.

• 6. University of Alabama (last game: won 24-21 vs. No. 5 Georgia)

Best takeaway: Week one is looking like nothing more than a bad dream

If you had skipped over week one and came up with your own rankings, Alabama would likely be a top-three team in the country. The good news is, more and more people are starting to realize that the Crimson Tide might just be one anyway, in spite of the perceived public opinion of the team following week one. Bama fans everywhere said that the dominant victories in weeks two and three wouldn't matter until we saw the Tide in Athens. To say those fans left happy would be an extreme understatement. But now, it's time to prepare for the unthinkable: a ranked matchup next week with Vanderbilt.

• 7. University of Georgia (last game: lost 24-21 vs. No. 17 Alabama)

Best takeaway: This team is still very capable of winning a championship

Georgia fans everywhere don't want to hear this right now, but Saturday's loss won't turn out to be as bad as it feels. Sometimes, a team just has your number, and there really isn't much you can do about it. If Kirby Smart hasn't convinced you by now, Alabama has his number. So it's fitting that's who we see become the first team in the 2020s to defeat the Bulldogs between the hedges of Sanford Stadium. For Georgia, however, this first loss is far from the end of their season. They still have potential resume boosters in Ole Miss and a rematch of last year's SEC title game at home against Texas. The Dawgs are still in control of their own fate, and they still have the talent to go the distance.

• 8. University of Tennessee (last game: won 41-34 at Mississippi State in OT)

Best takeaway: The Josh Heupel offense has unlocked a new gear

For the first time in program history, the Volunteers have strung together five consecutive 40-point games. Joey Aguilar remained one of the best quarterbacks in the conference on Saturday, and they needed it to escape Starkville with an overtime victory against a very hungry Mississippi State squad. Although they come in at the halfway mark in these rankings, the Vols have the potential to knock off anyone in the conference with this pass attack, and outside of a trip to Tuscaloosa along with a date with the Sooners, they also have a very favorable schedule to boost their odds of returning to the College Football Playoff.

• 9. Louisiana State University, LSU (last game: lost 24-19 at No. 13 Ole Miss)

Best takeaway: You have the defense to compete with anyone in the country

Despite my attempt to give the Tigers a silver lining, I have a feeling that today's not the day for consolidation, but rather outrage in Baton Rouge. Garrett Nussmeier can officially be added to the list of disappointing preseason Heisman favorites. LSU's normally benchmark-setting offensive line is struggling greatly, and the run game is too because of it. Brian Kelly is still getting angry in post-game press conferences,  and he doesn't seem to have an answer for LSU's current scoring struggles. Three of the Tigers' next four opponents are currently ranked within the top 16, so if Kelly can't write these early-season wrongs, another sub-ten-win season will become increasingly more likely.

• 10. Mississippi State University (last game: lost 41-34 vs. No. 15 Tennessee in OT)

Best Takeaway: Starkville Saturdays are officially back

Who would've thought Mississippi State would be receiving nearly 50 AP poll votes after last year's 2-10 finish? Jeff Lebby was tasked with following the late Mike Leach, and after 2024, many thought he wasn't the one to resurrect a stagnant program, including me. But what this team lacks in talent, they make up for in culture. This Bulldog team doesn't care about your ranking, and they don't care about how many draft picks you're playing with. Once those cowbells start ringing, Mississippi State will have a chance until it's zero's on the clock.

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• 11. University of Texas (last game: won 55-0 vs. Sam Houston in week four)

Best takeaway: The bye week may have come at a very good time

For seemingly the first time all year, the storylines in Austin were somewhat kept to a minimum. But that won't last long, regardless of the result of their upcoming games. That's just the nature of the Texas Longhorns. The good news is, Arch Manning finally came around in week four, putting together his first 300-yard game of the season. The bad news is that it was against a program new to FBS, leaving them still vastly unproven. Don't worry, though, Austin faithful, you're only two weeks out from the famed Red River Shootout, maybe even with John Mateer on the other sideline.

• 12. University of South Carolina (last game: won 35-13 vs. Kentucky)

Best takeaway: Williams-Brice + Lanorris Sellers = permanent upset alert

Now, of course, I'm not calling Saturday's dominant performance over Kentucky an upset. But what I am saying is that even in a rocky start, against an inferior opponent, the Gamecocks' fanbase sounded like they were knee-deep in a top-ten matchup. They still host Oklahoma, Alabama, and Clemson down the road, and with both of the first two firmly cemented in conference championship conversation, the last thing they want on their schedule is a Sandstorm-infused trip to Columbia, South Carolina.

• 13. Auburn University (last game: lost 16-10 at No. 9 Texas A&M)

Best takeaway: The talent is in place for Freeze to win games; now he just has to win them

Your outlook on the Auburn Tigers' season through five games really boils down to whether or not you're a glass-half-full or half-empty kind of individual. For the glass-half-fullers, Auburn started hot and has now lost two one-score games on the road against two high-quality opponents. For those who resonate with the latter, outside of week one, they haven't really looked dominant at all, and the offense is nowhere close to where it needs to be in order to contend for the SEC. I believe I still stand firm somewhere in the middle of the two.

• 14. University of Kentucky (last game: lost 35-13 at South Carolina)

Best takeaway: Even in a stagnant period, it's still any given Saturday, right?

There's just a lot of dead air in Lexington right now when it comes to the football program, and Mark Stoops is inching closer and closer to finding himself in the same situation as Arkansas' Sam Pittman, who was fired Sunday morning. However, Kroger Field can be a surprisingly difficult place to play, and they've already shown an ability to compete with top teams this year when the Wildcats lost to now number four-ranked Ole Miss by only seven earlier this year. The problem is, I just don't see enough juice in this football team right now to believe they will knock off a giant on their schedule.

• 15.  University of Florida (last game: lost 26-7 at No. 4 Miami in week four)

Best takeaway: The defense may just win you a game or two

I'm about to tell you two things that absolutely everybody within the SEC already knows: Florida has perhaps the most daunting schedule in CFB history, and their head coach is all but certain out of a coaching job by season's end. The good news, however, is that they still have an extremely talented young quarterback, and the team itself is talented enough to hang in some low-scoring games.

• 16. University of Arkansas (last game: lost 56-13 vs. No. 22 Notre Dame)

Best takeaway: Increasing chance of producing an NFL quarterback

If you think your weekend was bad, go check on your nearest Razorback fan. We knew the defense was bad, but Saturday was hard to watch. Jeremiyah Love finished the first half with four, yes, four rushing touchdowns for the Fighting Irish. After the game, Sam Pittman was honest about the team's performance, saying, "If I were a fan, I'd be mad too." Things went from bad to worse for one of the fan-favorite coaches in the conference, as per ESPN's Pete Thamel, Pittman was fired by Arkansas early Sunday morning. For what it's worth, the interim head coach Bobby Petrino should still keep up the explosives on the offensive side of the football this season.