SEC Baseball Power Rankings after Week 2 of conference play
The SEC baseball season is nearing two weeks into the conference season, and it looks a lot like SEC seasons of the past—even with two new teams.
Oklahoma and Texas have acclimated themselves nicely in their new digs. Both have slotted in the top of this week's SEC Baseball Power Poll, even. Whether they stay there in eight weeks remains to be seen. The league is that good. So good, in fact, one winless team is going to be ranked higher than you think.
On the other end, there are a few surprises, save for a team that has largely struggled over the last decade, suddenly looking like a national powerhouse under a new coach. Still, Tony Vitello and Dave Van Horn are making for the best rivalry in college baseball, fighting for the top spot in the SEC again.
Let's take a look at how the teams shake out after two weeks.
16. Missouri Tigers
The team that was picked to finish last in the SEC looks like the team that was predicted to finish last in the SEC. Missouri is not only winless after two weeks of league play, but is just 8-14 overall. A .500 record outside of the SEC is a rarity. Missouri is a rarely-seen bad team.
15. Texas A&M Aggies
Speaking of teams' preseason predictions, it was less than two months ago Texas A&M was predicted by the league's coaches to win the SEC. Instead, the Aggies find themselves 0-6, a hole too big to make those preseason prognostications correct.
14. South Carolina Gamecocks
Pitching is a serious problem in South Carolina. The Gamecocks allowed double-digit runs in every game of Week 2 in a sweep at the hands of Arkansas. The weekend before, in which South Carolina took one of three from Oklahoma, USC gave up five runs or more in each game. Not great.
13. Mississippi State Bulldogs
If the whole pitching staff were made out of Pico Kohn, Mississippi State might be the best team in the SEC. Instead, the Bulldogs win their ace's starts, generally, and struggle every other time out. Missisisppi State took the opener from Oklahoma on the weekend, but one win per weekend for perpetuity isn't going to get things done.
12. Kentucky Wildcats
Kentucky is just 2-4 in SEC play after two weeks, but finds itself still picking up votes in the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll. Is it that the Wildcats are that good? The SEC is overrated? What is it? Kentucky might have lost two of three against Auburn in Week 2, but the two losses both came by one run. Week 3 against Texas A&M will be a good measurement of reality.
11. Auburn Tigers
The 11th-best team in the SEC is a top-15 team in the nation. It's absurd. It also shows that maybe we don't quite think as highly of the Tigers are the NCAA's coaches. No doubt, Auburn is good. But three of their four wins have come by one run. They could 2-4 instead of 4-2. Let's see how they look against Georgia.
10. Vanderbilt Commodores
Ho-hum, another year where Vanderbilt chugs along a few games above. .500 in SEC play cracks the top 15 in the country, and gets completely overlooked. Sweeping A&M made up for the disappointing series loss against Auburn in the SEC opening weekend. A showdown with Arkansas awaits in Week 3.
9. Florida Gators
Yes, we have a team that is winless in the SEC after two weeks as the ninth- best team in the league. Only by sheer scheduling quirks have the Gators fallen to 0-6. Swept by Tennessee. Swept by Georgia. That's No. 2 Tennessee and No. 4 Georgia, mind you. Now, if Florida gets swept again, at Ole Miss, the drop will come like a stone in the ocean.
8. Ole Miss Rebels
If there is a team this writer feels uncomfortable about placing, it's Ole Miss. Yes, they beat the doors off Missouri in a weekend sweep to move to 4-2. But, something just feels...off about the way the Rebels have looked this season. Just the opposite of Florida, if Ole Miss beats the Gators this weekend, maybe it'll be easier to take them seriously.
7. Oklahoma Sooners
There's a line of demarcation that exists in SEC baseball. It's about halfway down the league, give or take. Below it, teams are awfully good, better than most in the nation, but largely aren't considered national title contenders. Above it, it's there for the taking. OU is above that line. For now.
6. Alabama Crimson Tide
Is Alabama this good? Probably not. The Crimson Tide played one of the weaker nonconference schedules in the SEC, though they did skate through it. Alabama lost two of three to Tennessee, so it's hard to knock that. It's just, much like Ole Miss, the Tide are hard to buy as contenders. Take two from Oklahoma and see what happens.
5. LSU Tigers
LSU is maybe the second best team in the country. But dropping two of three against Texas over the weekend means that the Tigers aren't going to be ranked in the SEC Power Poll as such. Considering the SEC gauntlet, the schedule is less than daunting, so it would shock no one to see the Tigers No. 1 soon.
4. Texas Longhorns
Hey, you beat the No. 2 team in the country in a three-game set, you get love. Texas prefaced that series win with a sweep of Mississippi State and gets Missouri next. The Longhorns could be 8-1 a third of the way through the SEC season. That'd be sitting pretty.
3. Georgia Bulldogs
It's incredible how quickly Wes Johnson has turned Georgia into a powerhouse. The Bulldogs made three NCAA Tournaments in 10 years under his predecessor. Now they're a top-five team in the nation. And dominating Florida to the tune of a sweep is impressive evidence.
2. Arkansas Razorbacks
Hitting was a problem for the Razorbacks in a disappointing 2024 season. No such issue this year. Arkansas has scored double-digit runs in five of its six conference games, all wins. The flip side is that the pitching has no Hagen Smith and does have an inexperienced bullpen. Things aren't perfect in Fayetteville. They're awfully good, though.
1. Tennessee Volunteers
The defending champs have made three College World Series in the last four years. Until someone knocks Tennessee off its perch with consistent winning - and the Vols consistently losing - it's hard to put Tennessee anywhere else.
This article originally appeared on Sooners Wire: SEC Baseball Power Rankings after week 2
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