SEC power rankings after Week 2: Texas stamps itself Georgia’s top competition

If there is a defense in the country with as much talent on it as Georgia’s, it’s Michigan’s. The defending champs were gutted on offense this season, but with an interior defensive line pairing of Mason Graham and Kenneth Grant, and Will Johnson at cornerback, the Wolverines are still loaded on the defensive side of the football. Yet, quarterback Quinn Ewers marched his Texas Longhorns into Ann Arbor, Michigan, and kept marching up and down the field. 

Texas left the Big House with a 31-12 win after putting up 24 points in the first half and now head coach Steve Sarkisian’s Longhorns look like a very real threat to Georgia in their first season in the SEC. 

Down in Athens, the head coach Kirby Smart’s Bulldogs handled their business at Sanford Stadium to the tune of a 48-3 win over Tennessee Tech to get to 2-0. Georgia stayed at No. 1 in the country with Texas climbing up to No. 2 and that’s where both teams sit in the SEC power rankings as well. 

Beyond the top 2, Ole Miss has handled its business with back-to-back blowout wins over cupcake opponents, still, the Tennessee Volunteers leapfrogged the Rebels. Head coach Josh Heupel potentially has another elite quarterback in Nico Iamaleava, but for the first time, Heupel has a championship-caliber defense. Tennessee rolled over a ranked NC State team 51-10 and now the Vols need to be taken very seriously in the SEC. 

One of the biggest fallers from Week 2 was Alabama. You might ask how the Crimson Tide could drop after a 42-16 win over USF, but if you are that means you didn’t watch the night game in Tuscaloosa. New head coach Kalen DeBoer and quarterback Jalen Milroe haven’t meshed quite yet and were in a dogfight until the dam finally broke for 28 points in the fourth quarter. 

After a Week 1 loss to USC, LSU struggled with Nicholls in the first half, but eventually pulled away. With Garrett Nussmeier, the Tigers have a quarterback capable of competing in conference play. Oklahoma expects to compete too, but the Sooner's sophomore quarterback Jackson Arnold didn’t look comfortable in OU’s Week 2 win over Houston. 

The Week 2 marquee head-to-head matchup in the SEC took place in Lexington as Kentucky hosted South Carolina. The Gamecocks dominated in the trenches, racking up five total sacks and holding the Wildcats offense, led by former Georgia quarterback Brock Vandagriff, to 44 passing yards. South Carolina and head coach Shane Beamer should have the rest of the conference on notice with a defensive line led by five-star freshman Dylan Stewart. 

If not Kentucky, then Auburn is the biggest loser of Week 2. The Tigers were upset by Cal at home 21-14 and until head coach Hugh Freeze upgrades at quarterback, Auburn will struggle to climb the ladder in the conference.