2022 SEC Football Power Rankings: Week 3
For Vanderbilt fans, four games are officially in the books. For everyone else across the Southeastern Conference, a quarter of the regular season has been completed.
Georgia clobbered South Carolina 48-7 to hand the Gamecocks their second loss of the season. The victory is enough for the Bulldogs to maintain the top spot this week, while South Carolina falls down two spots to dead last in the rankings.
Alabama trounced Louisiana-Monroe 63-7 and had the opportunity to score even more points on its final drive, but instead opted to kneel deep in Warhawks territory. Through three games, the Crimson Tide's defense has surrendered only two offensive touchdowns and is looking like one of the best in the conference. That being said, Alabama's offense could still use some tweaks. It might have scored 63 points on Saturday, but it took a good two quarters to get it rolling — something that the Crimson Tide won't be able to afford against SEC opponents.
Tennessee leaps up to third after downing Akron 63-6, while Arkansas fell to fifth after its narrow 38-27 win against Missouri State. The Razorbacks' margin of victory doesn't quite accurately reflect how close the game was, giving them a slide this week. However, next week's game against Texas A&M at AT&T Stadium will give them ample opportunity to rise back up in the rankings.
The last notable shakeup is Auburn, who dropped two spots to 11th after being embarrassed at home at the hands of Penn State. The 41-12 loss by the Tigers is the worst home loss for the program since all the way back in 2012, and head coach Bryan Harsin made some head-scratching decisions — like handing preseason All-SEC running back Tank Bigsby the ball just nine times over the course of the game.
Auburn hosts Missouri next week for homecoming, but then faces an absolutely brutal stretch of SEC games. Things could get bad in a hurry for the Tigers if the ship isn't righted soon.
Here's how the updated power rankings for Week 3 turned out:
2022 SEC Football Power Rankings: Week 3
1) Georgia (3-0 overall, 1-0 SEC)
2) Alabama (3-0, 0-0)
3) Tennessee (3-0, 0-0)
4) Ole Miss (3-0, 0-0)
5) Arkansas (3-0, 1-0)
6) Kentucky (3-0, 1-0)
7) Texas A&M (2-1, 0-0)
8) Florida (2-1, 0-1)
9) LSU (2-1, 1-0)
10) Mississippi State (2-1, 0-1)
11) Auburn (2-1, 0-0)
12) Vanderbilt (3-1, 0-0)
13) Missouri (2-1, 0-0)
14) South Carolina (1-2, 0-2)
Visit BamaCentral every Sunday throughout the 2022 season for the latest edition of SEC Football Power Rankings.
