SEC power rankings after Week 4: Tennessee topples Oklahoma in Josh Heupel’s return

The big news of the SEC offseason was the arrival of Oklahoma and Texas. In Week 4 one of those realignment additions was finally realized when Oklahoma hosted Tennessee in its first-ever SEC contest. With Georgia and Alabama on a bye before a top 5 matchup in Tuscaloosa in Week 5, all eyes turned to SEC football at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. 

That wasn’t the only storyline in play in Norman on Saturday night. It doubled as Josh Heupel’s return to Norman, where he won a national championship in 2000 as the Sooner’s All-American quarterback. Ironically, Oklahoma had trouble with its quarterback, benching five-star sophomore Jackson Arnold following three first-half turnovers as the Volunteers pulled away for a 25-15 win. 

True freshman Michael Hawkins Jr. replaced Arnold and scored twice in garbage time, but up 19-3 at halftime, Tennessee put the game away early behind a dominant defensive line and an efficient performance from Arnold’s fellow former five-star sophomore quarterback Nico Iamaleava. Two years ago when Hendon Hooker brought the Vols back to national prominence, Heupel’s team needed to score 40 or 50 points to win, but with the new defense he’s constructed, the Vols can win every type of game including ones in the College Football Playoff. 

Elsewhere, Texas cruised to a 51-3 win over Louisiana Monroe in Arch Manning’s first start. Another former five-star from the 2023 recruiting class, Manning had an up-and-down performance in his first collegiate start, completing 15 of his 29 attempts for 258 yards and two touchdowns, but also throwing two interceptions and only running the ball once for a loss of four yards. 

Oklahoma wasn’t the only SEC fringe contender that struggled on Saturday. Missouri needed two overtimes to finally dispatch Diego Pavia and Vanderbilt at home, 30-27. Missouri kicker Blake Craig went 3/6 on field goals, which helped to keep the Commodores in this one. Even after a six-point win over Boston College in Week 3 and a near upset in Week 4, there isn’t any place to drop Missouri in the SEC power rankings, it’s just continued to crystalize the obvious tier-drop after the top five teams in the conference. 

The reason that Missouri and Oklahoma can’t drop too far in the rankings is that none of the teams behind them have made a compelling case to jump. Texas A&M, with Marcel Reed still at quarterback, hung on for a 26-20 win over Bowling Green on Saturday. That’s the same Bowling Green team that pushed Penn State at Beaver Stadium in Week 2, but hardly a reason for the Aggies to move up from No. 8. 

SEC home field didn’t mean much in Baton Rouge either because UCLA, likely the worst team in the Big Ten, came into Death Valley and played LSU to a 17-17 draw in the first half before Garrett Nussmeier and the Tigers finally pulled away. Then, Brian Kelly’s team got even more bad news with the announcement that star linebacker Harold Perkins Jr. is out for the season with a torn ACL. 

Somehow, the biggest climber of the week is Arkansas, up from No. 15 last week to No. 12 with a sloppy 24-14 win over Auburn.