SEC Power Rankings after Week 1 of 2019: Yes, Vols are tanking

You could make the Mississippi State Bulldogs and Kentucky Wildcats interchangeable here. They both faced very solid Group of Five teams, and they both won looking ugly. Also, neither has anything to be ashamed of for looking ugly in their wins. But we have Mississippi State ahead of UK in our SEC Power Rankings because they technically won their game at a neutral site.

In fact, they faced a Sun Belt team in their home state. The Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns were 7-7 last year and played for the Sun Belt championship. This year, they return almost everybody and have Billy Napier in his second year, so there’s much more experience and familiarity. So they are a very dangerous team.

Meanwhile, MSU lost its all-everything in quarterback Nick Fitzgerald in addition to a ton of other talent. But entering Joe Moorhead’s second season, we didn’t know what to expect. Taking both things into account, they have nothing to apologize for after beating Louisiana by two scores in the state of Louisiana. Tommy Stevens and Kylin Hill could be the new MSU offense.

It’ll take a while to know how legit they are, but they get a great start to the season, hosting the Southern Miss Golden Eagles next. Then they host the Kansas State Wildcats and Kentucky Wildcats, which will really dictate where they belong in these standings.