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Tennessee football falls slightly in Week 2 SEC Power Rankings

By Caleb Calhoun

Tennessee defensive back Doneiko Slaughter (3) celebrates with a coach during an NCAA college football game between the Tennessee Volunteers and Pittsburgh Panthers in Knoxville, Tenn. on Saturday, September 11, 2021.Utvpitt0911 2095
Tennessee defensive back Doneiko Slaughter (3) celebrates with a coach during an NCAA college football game between the Tennessee Volunteers and Pittsburgh Panthers in Knoxville, Tenn. on Saturday, September 11, 2021.Utvpitt0911 2095 /
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Sep 11, 2021; Greenville, North Carolina, USA; South Carolina Gamecocks place kicker Parker White (43) celebrates his game winning field goal in the forth quarter against the East Carolina Pirates at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium. Mandatory Credit: James Guillory-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 11, 2021; Greenville, North Carolina, USA; South Carolina Gamecocks place kicker Parker White (43) celebrates his game winning field goal in the forth quarter against the East Carolina Pirates at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium. Mandatory Credit: James Guillory-USA TODAY Sports /

Previous: . Gamecocks . 10. team. 850. . 2-0

Last week: Defeated East Carolina Pirates 20-17

Right now, since we don’t have enough to go on in terms of schedule strength, our default position has to be to favor teams with better records in our SEC Power Rankings. As a result, 2-0 schools have to be better than 1-1 or 0-2 schools, although no 0-2 schools exist in the league right now.

Anyway, that’s our rationale for putting the South Carolina Gamecocks at No. 10 here. They have one FCS win and one FBS win but no Power Five wins, and their one FBS win was by a field goal. Shane Beamer’s team looks a lot worse this week.

Sure, the East Carolina Pirates could be a decent team, but falling behind 14-0 to them and needing a last-second field goal to win is not a good look. The best that can be said about what happened is that it was a road game.

Now, the real test for USC begins, as they have to visit the Georgia Bulldogs and then host the Kentucky Wildcats. Things are about to get rough for them, and while they are higher in our power rankings now, we are still labeling them as a likely win for Tennessee football. Something dramatic has to change for that to not be the case.

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