SEC Power Rankings following Week 2 of 2018 college football season

Yes, the LSU Tigers and Auburn Tigers are No. 4 and No. 3 in our SEC Power Rankings. And they play each other this week, meaning somebody is likely to shoot up to No. 1 because of the quality of their schedule. Like Auburn, Ed Orgeron’s Tigers followed up their huge win over the Miami Hurricanes with a dominant win of their own over an FCS school.

Technically, LSU didn’t win by the Margin Auburn won by. But they play a different style. This team uses a dominating defense and clock management to overwhelm their opponents, and they did just that en route to their blowout win this past weekend.

Meanwhile, LSU did look better in their opener against a ranked team than Auburn, and even if we have little faith in Mark Richt leading the Miami Hurricanes in big games, it still counts for something. That’s why, for now, LSU is ahead of Auburn. They are among our top three teams in the SEC.

Should we believe in Orgeron long-term? That remains up for debate. He hasn’t done anything for us to turn our backs on him. However, the track record of all of his issues is still there, so everybody has plenty of reason for concern.

But this weekend’s game at Auburn will go a long way towards determining what to believe in Orgeron. Win or lose, they should easily win their next three after this one over the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs, the Ole Miss Rebels and the Florida Gators before hosting the next team in these rankings.