College football sorely needs shiny objects to distract fans and everyone else from the circus that’s going on in courthouses around the country.
And those shiny objects we know as games are about to be here.
Saturday is the first full slate of games this season and most of the SEC will kick off their seasons then. Missouri goes first on Thursday, followed by Oklahoma on Friday. Ole Miss is another outlier, starting its season Sunday night.
All eyes will be on the SEC as it looks to break a three-year national championship drought. So, who are the teams best positioned to do that? And who is hoping to avoid a winless record in conference play?
We can use power rankings as a way to determine that pecking order. So, let’s start the season right with the first SEC power rankings of the year.
Taylor’s SEC Power Rankings
- Texas: Is this the year Texas is finally back? The talent is there, but it was also there in 2025.
- Georgia: Defending SEC champions should probably be No. 1, but where’s the excitement?
- Ole Miss: Rebels have a chance to write the “happily ever after” ending to its wild year. As long as last year wasn’t a fluke playoff appearance.
- Texas A&M: After last season, you almost feel bad for the Aggies. If not last year, when will it be their year? Then we see video of a “yell practice” and lose that empathy.
- LSU: The Tigers are good enough to be ranked this high, so why are they trying to bring in ex-NFL players?
- Oklahoma: Just like in the Big 12, the neighbor to the south is making a lot of noise and gaining all the attention. Unlike in the Big 12, there are a lot of teams capable of stealing that attention.
- Missouri: Can be these Tigers be the sneaky good team? The offense is there and if the defense is serviceable, Missouri might upset the whole party.
- Alabama: Kalen DeBoer has had success developing great quarterbacks. Will the fan base have the patience to let that happen?
- Tennessee: A true freshman starting at quarterback and revamped defense could be a good or bad thing. Starting the season with Furman won’t answer that question, though.
- South Carolina: Remember last year when everyone had the Gamecocks as one of the SEC’s playoff teams? This year, not so much, even though they have a lot of the same pieces on the roster.
- Florida: Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. So, it’s fitting Florida is the one to hire a carbon copy of the coach it just fired.
- Auburn: Can you take an entire offense from one school to another and be successful? Auburn is about to find out.
- Vanderbilt: Will Vanderbilt still be good in the post-Diego Pavia world? Or is a return to the basement on the horizon?
- Mississippi State: How far can Kamario Taylor carry the Bulldogs? Not very if the defense isn’t drastically improved.
- Kentucky: Quick…name five Kentucky football players. If you had to look at the roster, you’ve validated this placement. If you didn’t, sorry for being down on your favorite team.
- Arkansas: When the goal is to avoid going winless in SEC play, you start at the bottom. At least they’ll get an extra chance this season.
