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Tennessee football climbs Week 5 SEC Power Rankings after dominant win over Missouri

By Caleb Calhoun

Missouri wide receiver Tauskie Dove (86) celebrates a play during an NCAA football game between Tennessee and Missouri on Faurot Field at Memorial Stadium in Columbia, Mo., on Saturday, Oct. 2 , 2021.Utmizzou 1002 1046
Missouri wide receiver Tauskie Dove (86) celebrates a play during an NCAA football game between Tennessee and Missouri on Faurot Field at Memorial Stadium in Columbia, Mo., on Saturday, Oct. 2 , 2021.Utmizzou 1002 1046 /
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Oct 2, 2021; Nashville, Tennessee, USA; Vanderbilt Commodores quarterback Ken Seals (8) celebrates after defeating the Connecticut Huskies at Vanderbilt Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 2, 2021; Nashville, Tennessee, USA; Vanderbilt Commodores quarterback Ken Seals (8) celebrates after defeating the Connecticut Huskies at Vanderbilt Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports /

Well, the top teams in the SEC clearly separated themselves this past weekend. Meanwhile, Tennessee football managed to make a statement about where it belongs in the league nearly midway into Josh Heupel’s first season on the job. Not everything about the breakdown of the league is clear, though.

Our SEC Power Rankings following Week 5 of the 2021 season leaves a clear-cut top three, the three undefeated teams. Among them, there’s a clear-cut top two. On the other side, there’s a clear-cut bottom two, the only teams with losing records.

Everything else, though, is a bit up for debate, even if the breakdown isn’t crazy. Tennessee football has a range of where it could land, and it could be anywhere among the six teams with a 3-2 record. Three teams still have just one loss, and we have to separate them as well. Let’s dive in with our SEC Power Rankings ahead of Week 6.

887. . 2-3 (0-1). Previous: . Commodores . 14. team

Last week: Defeated UConn Huskies 30-28

Congratulations to Clark Lea’s Vanderbilt Commodores for what will almost certainly be their final win of the year. Sorry to be disrespectful, but Connecticut is one of the worst teams in all of college football. They’ve gotten more competitive since firing Randy Edsall, to be fair. Vandy still should’ve won by more.

A last-second field goal as time expires to beat a winless team may be thrilling, but it’s certainly not enough to keep this team at the bottom of these rankings. Vandy is still the only program on this list with a loss to an FCS program and one of only two with a losing record.

Of course, Lea was always going to have a tough rebuilding project. At this point, any win is a good win, and even with a trip to the Florida Gators this week, they still have two SEC East games against teams that they could upset. Neither is Tennessee football anymore, but they are the next two teams in our SEC Power Rankings.

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