The Texas Longhorns became the top-ranked team in the AP college football power rankings this week after destroying UTSA on Saturday 56-7. The oblique injury to Heisman front-runner Quinn Ewers didn’t concern the voters as it doesn’t seem too serious. It helps when you have arguably the best backup quarterback in the country in top recruit Arch Manning. He threw for 233 yards and four touchdowns after replacing Ewers.
The Georgia Bulldogs dropped to two in the power rankings since they barely beat unranked Kentucky 13-12. It was not a good look for the Bulldogs after the Wildcats were completely rolled over by South Carolina a week earlier. Kentucky out-gained the Bulldogs 284-262 in total yards. Carson Beck, who many believe could be the number one pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, only threw for 164 yards and zero touchdowns.
Alabama remained at four, dismantling the Wisconsin Badgers 42-10 in what was the most impressive win in the SEC this week. Jalen Milroe’s five-touchdown performance has him tied for second in the Heisman odds. Ole Miss held tight at five this week, even though they let Wake Forest stay in the game too long. The score was 23-6 in the third quarter when Jaxson Dart threw an interception seemingly giving the Demon Deacons an opening. On the next drive, Wake Forest turned it over on downs and the Rebels scored on their next three possessions.
Tennessee and Missouri flip-flopped spots, so the Volunteers rose to six while the Tigers fell to seven. The Volunteers embarrassed lowly Kent State with a decisive 71-0 victory while Missouri had a battle with 24th-ranked Boston College. The Tigers were down 14-3 early in the game before rattling off 24 straight points. That was enough to hold on for a 27-21 win. Both teams play big SEC games next week. Missouri faces Vanderbilt and Tennessee heads to Oklahoma for a game against the 15th-ranked Sooners, who didn’t move in this week’s rankings.
LSU managed to hold onto the 16th spot even though they almost blew their game against South Carolina. The Gamecocks had to play their backup quarterback Robby Ashford after starter LaNorris Sellers got injured. Ashford managed only a 3.9 QBR once he took over. LSU made multiple mistakes and the refs helped them with a non-existent offensive pass interference call that negated a huge gain. South Carolina fumbled two plays later.
The unranked Texas A&M Aggies snuck in to take the 25th spot this week after handedly beating Florida 33-20. The SEC currently has nine teams in the top 25, the most of any conference. The only other SEC team to receive top-25 votes was South Carolina who only got three. There are still 13 teams above them who have received more votes.
