By: Kipp Branch

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

Week one is in the books in the SEC. Here are my power rankings after the first week of play:

1.LSU: The Tigers rolled Georgia Southern and looked fabulous doing so. Joe Burrow looked like a Heisman front-runner in the new spread offense. The Tigers looked the best of any SEC team in week one and start out at the top of the power rankings.

2.Georgia: The Dawgs rushed for 325 yards against Vanderbilt and looked pretty good doing it. The negative nellies will say they only beat Vanderbilt by 24 points. Georgia did not need the passing game in this contest. Since when is a 24 point road SEC win not considered a great accomplishment? This is a complete football team.

3.Alabama: The Tide struggled for a quarter against Duke then poured it on the Blue Devils. Alabama is a hunted team by everyone and will get their best shot every Saturday. Is this defense with the injuries up to Alabama standards?

4.Texas A&M: Kellen Mond lit up Texas State and many are saying this team might give the rock patters in Clemson trouble this weekend. Will this team play good enough defense to be elite?

5.Auburn: Bo Nix is the new hero on The Plains. Auburn came back from the dead against Oregon in typical Auburn fashion. Is there a luckier team in the history of SEC than Auburn? This defense is pretty good.

6.Florida: The Gators beat Miami who looked like hot garbage. That Gator defensive line is legit. Feleipe Franks needs to focus on being a quality QB and stop making Tim Tebow like speeches. Can this team run the ball against a quality SEC defense?

7.Mississippi State: MSU played a decent Louisiana team and hung on against the Ragin Cajuns. I wasn’t really impressed by MSU, but they got the W. This team will finish 5th at best in the SEC West.

8.Kentucky: The SEC East outside of Georgia and possibly Florida looks like a raging dumpster fire. UK struggled with Toledo most of the contest. The Cats have major work to do.

9.Missouri: How do you lose to Wyoming? Better yet how did they convince Mizzou to make that trip to Laramie? Missouri is a notorious slow starter and it showed again last Saturday.

10.Ole Miss: Memphis is not a bad team, but you expect an SEC team to go beat them. The offense needs work, but a good effort by the defense to only give up 15 points.

11.Vanderbilt: Vandy lost at home to UGA 30-6, but looked ok on defense in the second half. Vandy looks like the best team in Tennessee once again. That’s not saying a whole lot however.

12.South Carolina: The Gamecocks blew a 20-9 lead to a North Carolina team they should have beat. South Carolina had more talent than UNC, but could not get out of their own way down the stretch. I expected more out of this team last weekend. Will Muschamp is a good football coach that just seems to have the worst luck.

13.Arkansas: Yeah, the Hogs won against Portland State 20-13, but Arkansas 10 years ago beats PSU by 35 points. This team has a long way to go. Chad Morris will turn this thing around, IF he is given time.

14.Tennessee: You have got to be kidding me Tennessee. You lose at home to Georgia freaking State and get manhandled on the line of scrimmage in doing so. We heard all off-season about how things were changing in Knoxville. This team just flat out gave up in the fourth quarter of that contest. Kids are leaving the program in droves. Tennessee may be down for a good long time. BYU is coming to town this weekend. Rocky Top looks like Rocky Flop right now. Will 60K show up at Neyland Stadium this weekend?

LSU travels to Texas and Texas A&M travels to Clemson in huge games this weekend. Both SEC teams can make a huge statement, but will they? I think LSU does and A&M folds like a cheap camping chair.