Florida and Mississippi State were the big movers, while Ole Miss and Texas A&M suffered the opposite effect entering Week 5 of the SEC Power Rankings. Just another week at the office in SEC football.
Three more SEC teams (Ole Miss, Tennessee and Missouri) left the unbeaten ranks in Week 4 -- the first full week of head-to-head SEC competition -- but five league members remain with perfect 4-0 records.
That's down from a perfect 16-0 mark after Week 1 of the 2026 college football season, when all 16 SEC teams registered season-opening victories.
There were four top-25 matchups over the weekend involving SEC teams, and nine SEC teams are ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 this week, the most of any conference. Eight of those teams are in action this weekend, with two of the games -- No. 7 Alabama at No. 16 Mississippi State and No. 8 Florida at No. 25 Missouri -- featuring matchups between ranked SEC teams.
Here is how the SEC Football Power Rankings shake out entering Week 5 of the 2026 season, with advancement (+), decline (-) or no change (--) from the previous week indicated next to the respective team's record.
Week 5 SEC Football Power Rankings
Texas hasn't always looked like the most complete team this season, but it owns the best resume with wins over former No. 1 Ohio State and at No. 17 Tennessee. The top-ranked Longhorns were 20-17 winners over Tennessee this past weekend.
They have a bye this week before the Red River Rivalry against struggling Oklahoma at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas on Oct. 10.
Georgia did nothing to endanger its No. 2 ranking nationally or in the Week 5 SEC Power Rankings.
The Bulldogs easily took care of the struggling Oklahoma Sooners with a 41-13 home win over the weekend. The game with Oklahoma matched two top-10 defenses nationally (No. 9 OU and No. 7 Georgia), but the Bulldogs were clearly the best defensive team on Saturday, allowing the Sooners just 13 points, 65 rushing yards and forcing four turnovers.
Georgia hosts Vanderbilt on Saturday and won't receive its first real challenge of the season until the week after this one, when the Dawgs go on the road at No. 7 Alabama.
Other than the first half of the game at Kentucky, Alabama has faced very little adversity so far this season.
The Crimson Tide trailed Kentucky 17-13 at halftime but came out and completely dominated the second half, scoring 32 unanswered points in a 45-17 runaway. The Alabama offense is averaging close to 50 points a game (48.0) through four games.
The Tide defeated South Carolina 49-18 on Saturday. Things get a lot tougher for 7th-ranked Alabama starting this weekend, with a road test at much-improved Mississippi State, up eight spots to No. 16 this week in the AP Top 25. One week later, No. 2 Georgia comes calling to Tuscaloosa.
Florida may be the most improved team in the SEC this season.
The Gators and new head coach Jon Sumrall are off to a 4-0 start, including SEC wins over Auburn, and this past weekend, Ole Miss. Florida's 52-28 victory at home over previously unbeaten Ole Miss was the most impressive win of the week in the SEC and sent a clear message to the rest of the league that this Gator team means business.
Florida has scored 40 or more points in each of its four games. The Gators head into another top-25 matchup this weekend at No. 25 Missouri.
LSU responded in a big way to its 32-24 road loss at Ole Miss the week before with a dominating 35-6 win at home over Texas A&M. It was the Aggies' second consecutive conference loss.
Meanwhile, new head coach Lane Kiffin's Tigers evened their conference record at 1-1. LSU steps out of conference this weekend, hosting 2-3 McNeese State, an FCS opponent out of the Southland Conference.
Ole Miss suffered its first loss of the season in a 52-28 road defeat at Florida on Saturday. The Rebels allowed 498 yards of offense by the Gators, including 305 rushing yards. Ole Miss ranks in the bottom 10 nationally in run defense, and this could be a big problem as the Rebels navigate through the rest of their SEC schedule, which includes both Texas and Georgia.
Ole Miss is one of three SEC teams with byes this week. Its next action will be against Vanderbilt in Nashville the weekend after this one.
Tennessee gave No. 1 Texas all it could handle this past weekend, coming up just short, 20-17, in the SEC season opener for both teams. It was the first loss of the season for the Volunteers, who will have the chance to redeem themselves when they travel to play at Auburn this weekend. Auburn has won seven of the last eight games against Tennessee, but the two teams have not faced each other since 2020.
Kentucky followed up its 31-21 upset of Texas A&M the week before with a 45-21 nonconference victory over South Alabama on Saturday. The Wildcats are another SEC team that looks better this season than in recent years. UK moved into the top 25 this week (No. 24 in the AP Top 25) for the first time since 2024.
Kentucky doesn't have to play Texas or Georgia this season, but it does have back-to-back games against Tennessee and Florida on the first two weekends in November. Before that, however, the Wildcats are at South Carolina this weekend and host LSU the following week.
Former Oklahoma offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby has Mississippi State firing on all cylinders through the first four games. The Bulldogs rallied from a seven-point fourth-quarter deficit to defeat then-No. 19 Missouri 31-24 on Saturday.
The win was Mississippi State's first win over a ranked opponent since Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott's time at Mississippi State in 2014. The Bulldogs have a chance to record another signature Top-25 win when they host No. 7 Alabama this weekend.
Missouri is going to have to quickly get over its 31-24 loss at Mississippi State with red-hot Florida coming to CoMo this weekend and chomping at the bit. Missouri plays exceptionally well at home, and the Tigers will need to be at their best going against a Florida team that is as confident as any team in the SEC right now and playing like it. The all-time series between these two teams is almost dead even. Missouri has won seven of the 13 games, but each team has won twice on the other team's field.
Texas A&M is one of just two SEC teams that are without a win in two SEC games. The Aggies suffered their second consecutive loss on Saturday, a 35-6 defeat at LSU, and didn't look at all good in doing so.
Right now, it appears that A&M and Oklahoma are the two biggest frauds in SEC football this season, based on preseason expectations. The Aggies get a bit of a reprieve this weekend when they host Arkansas, which early on appears to be the worst team in the conference this season.
Full disclosure, it was a toss up between Auburn and Oklahoma for the 12th spot -- four from the bottom in the SEC Power Rankings this week.
Auburn and OU don't meet this season, but if they did, I believe Auburn would win at its place, and the Tigers would test the Sooners to the max in Norman. It was the Sooners' horrific offensive numbers that swung the 12th spot in Auburn's favor insofar as the power rankings. Things could easily change next week, though, as Oklahoma has a bye week and Auburn is on the road at No. 17 Tennessee.
In the last three weeks, Oklahoma has fallen from No. 5 in the conference power rankings all the way down to No. 13 this week. That's the largest differential, up or down, of any SEC team four games into the season. The Sooners lost 41-13 at Georgia over the weekend. The Georgia defense is one of the best in the country this season, but it was helped out by four Oklahoma turnovers and a virtually non-existent Sooner run game.
OU's bye week couldn't come at a better time. The last thing this team needed was back-to-back games against the No. 2 and No. 1 teams in the country. Arch-rival Texas at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas is next on the docket for the Sooners.
South Carolina was destroyed 49-18 on the road at then-No. 8 Alabama on Saturday. It was the Gamecocks' second straight conference loss (41-34 at home to Mississippi State the week before). No. 24 Kentucky pays a visit to South Carolina this weekend, followed by a game at No. 8 Florida the week after.
The outlook for Vanderbilt this season is pretty much where the Commodores find themselves now, mired near the bottom of the SEC and in a battle with Arkansas to stay off the bottom rung. Vandy's remaining schedule is not a favorable one. The Commodores have No. 2 Georgia on the road this weekend. That is followed by Ole Miss at home. They close out the season against Mississippi State, Alabama, Florida and Tennessee, with Mississippi State and Florida on the road.
Arkansas has the most difficult schedule in college football this season, according to the ESPN Football Power Index. The Razorbacks have already played No. 2 Georgia, and they close out the season against No. 1 Texas and No. 11 LSU. This week, however, it's off to College Station, Texas, to face an angry Texas A&M team that has lost its last two games. The week after, Tennessee visits Fayetteville.
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