Halloween came early for some of the nation's top teams on Saturday, including three of the best teams in the SEC. It was a freaky and frightening weekend of college football as five of the top seven teams in the national rankings lost, causing a shakeup not only up and down the top 25, but also in our Week 8 SEC Power Rankings.
Oklahoma also found itself caught up on the wrong side of the weekend chaos, losing at home to No. 15 Kentucky in a game the Sooners, quite literally, gave away.
When the dust had cleared from the weekend Armageddon in the SEC and all around college football, both Alabama and Texas went down to defeat for the second consecutive weekend, and top-ranked Georgia was stunned at home by unranked Auburn, which had not won Between the Hedges in Athens since 2005.
There are no undefeated teams remaining in the SEC, and 12 of the 16 teams have two or more losses midway through the 2026 season. The Week 7 action, which featured seven conference matchups and one non-conference contest (Texas A&M bullied The Citadel to the tune of 41-0), resulted in the largest shakeup of the season in the weekly conference power rankings. Seven teams moved upward in the rankings, seven others slid backward, while two remained unchanged.
Nine SEC teams are ranked this week in the Associated Press Top 25 and two others received votes. Only one of the six conference games scheduled this coming weekend, however, features a head-to-head matchup between a pair of ranked teams. No. 7 Ole Miss is at No. 19 Texas, which will be trying to avoid three straight losses.
Here is how things shake out in the SEC Power Rankings entering Week 8 of the 2026 season, including advances (+), declines (-), and no change (--) indicated next to the team's season record.
Week 8 SEC Football Power Rankings
Georgia suffered its first loss of the season, 27-24, to Auburn over the weekend. That marked the reigning SEC champion's first loss at home to an unranked team since 2019. The Bulldogs are now 33-3 under head coach Kirby Smart as the nation's top-ranked team. Despite the upset, Georgia remains the strongest team in the SEC at the midpoint of the season. The Bulldogs have a bye week before hosting No. 20 Florida on Oct. 31.
Ole Miss shut down a potent Missouri offense in posting a 31-3 victory on Saturday to improve to 5-1 on the season and 3-1 in the SEC. The Rebels have another big test this weekend, traveling to Austin, Texas, where they will face an angry and somewhat desperate Longhorn team that can ill afford a third loss to remain relevant in the College Football Playoff race.
The Volunteers have been steadily moving up in the SEC Power Rankings since a 20-17 home loss to Texas back in Week 4. Tennessee has put together three straight wins since then, including a huge 26-10 dismantling of then-No. 6 Alabama this past weekend. The Volunteers will try to avoid a letdown following the emotional victory over the Crimson Tide when they take to the road for a game at South Carolina this weekend.
Now with two losses in back-to-back weekends, Alabama has little margin for error in its remaining five games to stay in contention for a spot in the College Football Playoff. The good news if you're a Crimson Tide fan is that the schedule sets up favorably the rest of the way. The rest of the season kicks off with a home game this weekend against a Texas A&M team that has struggled this season offensively. Bama has a bye next weekend before traveling to Death Valley to take on LSU.
Kentucky may be the most surprising team in the SEC so far this season. Were it not for a poor second half at home against Alabama, the Wildcats could be sitting at 7-0 this season. They already have three road SEC road wins to their credit, including a 21-13 win at Oklahoma over the weekend. One of four one-loss SEC teams, Kentucky should be 7-1 after this weekend with a home game against last-place Vanderbilt.
Watch out for this group of Cats, who are in full-scale "believe" mode. Kentucky faces a stern test down the stretch, with Tennessee, Florida, Missouri, and Louisville remaining on the schedule, and Tennessee and Missouri are on the road.
LSU got back on the winning track with a 31-0 home shutout over Mississippi State on Saturday. The Tigers' two league losses are to Ole Miss by eight points and to Kentucky by a single point in overtime. Both of those games were on the road.
The remaining schedule includes a road date at Auburn, fresh off a dramatic road victory over No. 1 Georgia, this weekend. Following a Week 9 bye, LSU has back-to-back home games against Alabama and Texas, then back-to-back road games at Tennessee and Arkansas to finish out the regular season.
Missouri was one of the big losers this week, tumbling back four spots, from No. 3 to No. 7, in the weekly SEC Power Rankings following a 31-3 meltdown at Ole Miss over the weekend. The Tigers will have a week to regroup before returning to action on Halloween weekend, when they will host struggling Arkansas. After that, things get a little dicey schedule-wise with consecutive games against Texas, Georgia, and Kentucky. The games with Texas and Kentucky, though, will be in Columbia.
Florida is the Jekyll and Hyde of the SEC the past couple of weeks. The Gators defeated previously unbeaten Ole Miss by 24 points in Week 4, then followed that up with a pair of blowout losses to Missouri and South Carolina. This past weekend, the Gators went to Austin, Texas, and defeated the Longhorns, who two weeks ago were ranked No. 1 in the country. As a result, Florida gained back the four places it had lost the previous week, and this week is back to No. 8 in the conference power rankings. The Gators receive a well-earned bye this week before a date at Georgia looms on Oct. 31.
Texas has been in freefall the past two weeks after entering Week 6 as both the No. 1 team in the SEC and the country. Since then, however, the Longhorns have dropped back-to-back games to Oklahoma and Florida, and have fallen to the No. 9 spot in the conference power rankings. And it could get worse before it gets better with Ole Miss coming to Austin this weekend. The last time Texas lost as many as three games in a row was in 2021, when the Horns lost six straight in the Big 12 in Steve Sarkisian's first season as head coach.
Mississippi State is one of two SEC teams that remained unchanged from last week in the power rankings. This is despite a 31-0 drubbing at LSU on Saturday. The Bulldogs were without their starting quarterback, Kamario Taylor, who could also miss the game this Saturday against Oklahoma.
Mississippi State is definitely a different team without Taylor. His head coach, former Oklahoma offensive coordinator and alum Jeff Lebby, says Taylor's status is day-to-day after suffering a foot injury in the Bulldogs' 31-24 win over Missouri in Week 4.
Auburn picked up a huge win over the weekend, defeating No. 1 Georgia 27-24 on the Dawgs' home turf, a place Georgia rarely losses. This weekend, the Tigers get an opportunity to take down another SEC heavyweight in LSU, and this time it will be in front of the home folks at Jordan-Hare Stadium. Auburn's remaining conference games are at Ole Miss, vs. Arkansas at Mississippi State, and the Iron Bowl rivalry this year at Alabama.
Oklahoma reverted back to it loser ways in falling 21-13 at home to surging Kentucky over the weekend. The Sooners had multiple opportunities to score enough points to win the game, but three interceptions thrown by quarterback John Mateer, all in the second half, and four OU turnovers in total all but sealed the Sooners' fate. Oklahoma, in danger of having its worst season under head coach Brent Venables after finishing 10-3 a year ago and making the College Football Playoff, is at Mississippi State this weekend, coached by former Sooner offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby.
Oklahoma still has games remaining vs. South Carolina, at Florida, vs. Ole Miss, vs. Texas A&M, and at Missouri.
South Carolina enjoyed a bye week in Week 7 and returns to action this weekend, hosting visiting Tennessee. The Gamecocks lost their first two conference games to Mississippi State and Alabama by an average of 14 points. Since then, however, they have lost by one point to Kentucky in overtime and gone to Florida and recorded a 19-point win. South Carolina is hoping to catch Tennessee on a down note following its dominant 26-10 win over Alabama.
Texas A&M has been going backward since beginning the season ranked No. 8 in the country. The Aggies lost their SEC home opener to Kentucky, followed by a 29-point loss at LSU, and have been sliding backward ever since. They have settled in at No. 14 this week despite a 41-0 blowout win against an overmatched opponent from The Citadel. A&M won't find the going that easy this weekend, when it pays a visit to Alabama, which will be loaded for bear after coming off two straight losses.
After seven straight weeks holding down the bottom rung of the SEC, Arkansas moved out of the cellar and traded places with Vanderbilt following a 31-21 victory over the Commodores, who are winless in the SEC. The Razorbacks are off this weekend before returning to action at home against Missouri in what they call the Battle Line Rivalry, in reference to the line dividing the North and South in the Civil War.
Vanderbilt is the new leader at the opposite end of the SEC Power Rankings this week following its 10-point loss at home to previous cellar-dwelling Arkansas this past weekend. This has been a disappointing season for head coach Clark Lea and the Commodores, who finished 10-3 overall a year ago and 6-2 in the SEC. The Commodores are at Kentucky this weekend in what has been a closely fought series over the years. Kentucky leads the all-time series 48-45 with 4 ties. Vanderbilt has won the last two games in the series.
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