Where the SEC Lands in Week 12 College Football Rankings

By Ric Butler
- Nov 15, 2023

SEC Football in the AP Top 25. Photo via Tennessee Athletics.

Tennessee’s loss to Missouri on Saturday night caused a disruption in the order of the SEC teams in this week’s array of ranking systems across the industry.

The Vols entered the Missouri game as the third highest-ranked team from the SEC but has fallen to the back of the line (among Top 25 teams) after losing to the Tigers.

The top two teams from the conference remain unchanged heading into the 12th week of the 2023 college football season.

Georgia defeated Ole Miss on Saturday night as the Bulldogs frankly dismantled Lane Kiffin’s Rebels by a score of 52-17 in Athens. Ole Miss held Georgia to a seven-point lead after the first quarter of play but that lead quickly snowballed into a 14-point halftime deficit, a 24-point deficit after the third quarter, and a 35-point victory for the SEC’s top team by the end of the game.

Georgia’s impressive win over Ole Miss, coupled with their previous win over Missouri, vaulted the Bulldogs over Ohio State to No. 1 in the College Football Playoff rankings to match their top ranking in the AP Poll and the Coaches Poll.

Alabama, meanwhile, stayed put at the No. 8 position across all three rankings after throttling Kentucky 49-21 in Lexington on Saturday afternoon. The Crimson Tide posted a 21-7 lead after the first quarter and expanded that to a 28-point win behind six total touchdowns from quarterback Jalen Milroe. The Wildcats, on the other hand, fell to 6-4 with the loss.

Missouri is the next team up after their convincing win over Tennessee on Saturday. The Tigers flew up to No. 9 in the College Football Playoff rankings while landing at No. 11 in the AP Poll and the Coaches Poll.

Despite the aforementioned loss to Georgia, Ole Miss didn’t fall back too far in any of the rankings this week. The Rebels landed at No. 13 in both the CFB Playoff rankings and the AP Poll while the Coaches Poll has Ole Miss at No. 14.

Similarly to Georgia and Alabama, LSU’s ranking across the three platforms is the exact same. The Tigers sit at No. 15 in all three systems after a high-scoring 52-35 win over Florida in Baton Rouge on Saturday night. Quarterback Jayden Daniels had a ridiculous game with 606 total yards and five total touchdowns against the Gators.

Lastly, rounding out the SEC teams in the rankings, Tennessee landed at No. 18 in the College Football Playoff rankings. Tennessee moved back to No. 19 in the Coaches Poll and fell to No. 21 in the AP Top 25 poll, which is the widest range of ranking spots among all six SEC teams.