College Football SEC power rankings entering Week 8

Through 7 weeks of college football, the SEC has an unfathomable amount of parity.

Get this — Florida beat Texas, who beat Tennessee, who beat Auburn, who beat Georgia, who beat Alabama, who beat Kentucky, who beat LSU, who beat Mississippi State, who beat Missouri, who beat… You guessed it, Florida.

It’s a 10-team circle of parity! So how in the world do you rank all of these teams, who ironically form the top-10 this week?

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Sep 11, 2026; Lawrence, Kansas, USA; Missouri Tigers quarterback Austin Simmons (13) warms up on the sidelines against the Kansas Jayhawks during the second half of the game at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-Imagn Images Credit: IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect (Reuters)

The Tigers take a precipitous drop in the rankings after a 31-3 loss at Ole Miss. It was supposed to be a revenge game for Austin Simmons. It wasn’t. He threw for 339 yards but couldn’t find the end zone. For the first time all season, Jamal Roberts was completely shut down in the run game, managing only 39 yards.

I was very high on this Auburn team in the preseason, and the win over Georgia proved why. Byrum Brown is dynamic and tough to contain for even the best opposing defenses, and the Tiger defense led by DJ Durkin forced some timely turnovers. This is the first major win of the Alex Golesh era.

This team is hard to rank. On one hand, they beat Ohio State. On the other hand, they’ve looked completely incompetent the past two weeks. They took a 17-3 lead against Florida in the second quarter, only to surrender 24 consecutive points over a stretch where the offense generated one first down. This is one of the most talented rosters in college football — too talented to be playing like this. If it continues, someone will have to answer for it, whether it’s Steve Sarkisian or Arch Manning.

Congratulations, Florida, you found yourself a new quarterback. The numbers weren’t eye-popping, but Tramell Jones Jr. was great against Texas. The Longhorns defense simply could not get him off the field in the second half, allowing 6 straight 3rd-down conversions for Jones and the Gators offense. This QB change may change the entire trajectory of Florida’s season.

The Bayou Bengals looked solid in a 31-0 rout of a hapless Mississippi State team that was without Kamario Taylor. Sam Leavitt threw for 4 TDs. The LSU schedule is a gauntlet, but they may be able to afford another loss and still qualify for the CFP.

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Kentucky’s coach Will Stein came out with players against LSU at Kroger Field Saturday evening. Oct. 10, 2026 Credit: USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect (Reuters)

Will Stein is looking like the best head coach hire of the 2025 cycle. He’s been great for Kentucky, who doesn’t have as much composite talent as most of the SEC, but continues to out-execute opponents and come out victorious. Tennessee, Florida, and Missouri remain on the schedule, and two victories out of that group should see Kentucky qualify for the CFP!

The Volunteers made a change at QB, going from Faizon Brandon to George MacIntyre. For whatever reason, that change has made them play like an entirely different team, but MacIntyre hasn’t done a whole lot. A dominant ground game with DeSean Bishop and a swarming defense that picked off Keelon Russell twice keyed a 26-10 victory on “the 3rd Saturday in October.”

Even though they just lost to the Volunteers, Alabama will sit one spot ahead of them on this week’s countdown. And that’s because they’re more likely to qualify for the CFP and/or win a National Championship than their rivals up north. The Crimson Tide have one of the highest ceilings in the country. Keelon Russell looked great for 5 weeks, and just showed a little bit of growing pains without Ryan Coleman-Williams against an outstanding Tennessee defense. Theoretically, this team should bounce back.

It was a vintage “emotional letdown” game for Georgia against Auburn, after their massive victory in Tuscaloosa. The loss to Auburn, however, did showcase one weakness in the Bulldogs’ armor — when they needed to drive down the field for a quick score at the end of the game, the passing game did not come through. Will this cost them again?

Yes, they got absolutely trounced by Florida a few weeks ago, but that game is looking more and more like an “emotional letdown” after the win over LSU, and the result appears to be an aberration considering the directions the two teams have gone. The Rebels dominated Missouri 31-3 in Week 7, excelling in all phases of the game with Kewan Lacy back at RB. They have to be considered the favorites in the SEC right now.