SEC Power Rankings Week 2: Florida football slips after poor showing

SEC Power Rankings teams 11 through 8

If you want our honest opinion, we still like Florida’s chances against a couple of teams that are going to be ranked ahead of them on this list. If some of these teams that will be coming up played Utah rather than a cupcake of their own, we are not convinced they would have emerged victorious.

But we also have to punish Florida football for a litany of self-inflicted wounds, including the inexcusable penalty on their punt return that had two players wearing number three.

If those simple errors get cleaned up, this squad can still finish higher than 11th in the SEC.

Fair is fair, though; for now, we must keep them down here.

With Mississippi State in transition following the death of head coach Mike Leach, not a ton is expected out of this squad compared to last season.

But they still have Will Rogers, which should power them to stay competitive in the SEC West.

The problem is against Southern Louisiana, the Bulldogs were only up 10-7 with two minutes to go in the first half before pulling away.

Mississippi State does get a Power Five opponent this week in Arizona, but its first true test is in two weeks against LSU.

Like Mississippi State, Kentucky didn’t exert their will early on against Ball State.

It took a second-quarter scoop and score from Kentucky to keep the game more distant than it really was.

Without that fumble return for a touchdown, things would have been a bit uncomfortable in Lexington after Ball State scored in the third quarter to make it 30-14.

Devin Leary, the prized transfer from NC State, had a lower QB rating than Graham Mertz.

Florida should be capable of beating this team, but like we put in our confidence meter to begin the season, Lexington has also been a house of horrors for the Gators in recent years.

In truth, Auburn did what an SEC school should do against an inferior opponent and ran the ball down the throat of UMass.

The Tigers had seven different players run the ball for a combined 289 yards, leading to an easy victory for Auburn.

Payton Thorne, though, was only 10/17 passing for 141 yards.

Auburn won’t get a real test until week four against Texas A&M.