SEC Power Rankings following Week 1 of 2018 season
Major props to the Auburn Tigers. This is a spread offense team under Gus Malzahn that lost a lot of talent on the offensive line. Meanwhile, they faced a Washington Huskies team in their season-opener that was the physical Pac-12 team led by Chris Petersen. It was a terrible match-up for them to try to build off of last year’s SEC West win.
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But these guys did just that. Auburn gained 420 yards of total offense and torched the defense all game. Meanwhile, their own defense held Washington to under 400 yards and forced two turnovers. It was a solid win all the way around.
This team showed that it can win in close games. They scored a late touchdown and then held the Huskies on a final defensive stand to pull out the victory. Such a quality win against a Top 10 team is more than enough to keep them in the top three of our SEC Power Rankings.
Auburn could have been higher, maybe No. 2, but that’s an up in the air debate. For now, we’re going to keep them at No. 3, where they began in our preseason rankings. But the chances to move up will come soon enough.
After an easy outing this week, the Tigers face the LSU Tigers, a game that was the rivalry of the decade in the SEC West in the 2000s. That will begin a process to show exactly where they belong and if they can compete with the next team in our SEC Power Rankings.