Each week Cats Illustrated publisher Justin Rowland takes stock of all the conference action and updates the site's SEC Power Rankings.

This week the Wildcats see a precipitous fall based on the game against South Carolina. There are other changes as well.

1. Georgia

UGA didn't seem overly invested in its game against Tennessee Tech, a 48-3 game that was a mild 24-0 at halftime. Carson Beck did throw five touchdown passes. What stands out about Georgia is how solid they are across the board and how many ways they can attack you.

2. Texas

Texas went into the Big House and beat a Michigan team that's down at least a couple notches from last year's national championship squad. It's the second straight year Steve Sarkisian has notched a huge road win early in the season after winning in Tuscaloosa last year. Quinn Ewers had a great game and the Texas offense was diverse and dynamic. This team is very hard to defend and they also bottled Michigan up, holding them to 12 points on the road. Texas could make the SEC race very interesting this year.

3. Tennessee

Nico Iamaleava did throw two interceptions but had plenty of strong moments as well. But the big thing is Tennessee looked like a complete football team in dismantling NC State, a top-25 opponent. The Vols passed, ran, and completely shut the Wolfpack down in a 51-10 win that would have been 51-3 if Nico's arm hadn't been hit on a pick six. We went into the season thinking Tennessee was one of six or seven leading playoff contenders from the SEC and it certainly appears to still be in that group.

4. Ole Miss

Jaxson Dart continued his stellar start to the season completing 25 of 27 passes for 377 yards and a touchdown. Ole Miss scored at least 14 points in the first three quarters of the game in dominating MTSU. They also held the Blue Raiders to 28 yards on 25 carries.

5. Alabama

South Florida gave Alabama a tough game. The Tide broke away late with a 28-point fourth quarter but didn't look so hot for a lot of the contest. Hence the drop from the No. 2 spot in last week's rankings. The troubling thing about this game for Alabama is the fact that the Bulls rushed for more than 200 yards. They didn't gash the Tide on the ground, but that allowed them to play the kind of game they wanted to.

6. Missouri

Brady Cook has left some throws and points on the field, so the Missouri offense still has to fully hit its stride but the defense shut down Buffalo in a 38-0 shutout win. Cook had 38 passing attempts but no touchdowns through the air. However, the Tigers rushed for 255 yards and held Buffalo to 6/20 passing. Missouri is a complete team that can win different kinds of games, one of their best qualitiies.

7. LSU

LSU looks like we thought they would. The offense is good but not as good as last year. The defense is not good, but better than last year. They have balanced out, but what does that mean in the big picture? We're still asking. The Tigers beat Nicholls State 44-21 but gave up three long scoring drives.

8. Oklahoma

Oklahoma is still an unknown after barely surviving a defensive struggle at home against Houston. There may be a hard ceiling for the Sooners this year because they aren't getting a lot of yards through the air, like many of the best teams in the country. Jackson Arnold attempted 32 passes but only went for 174 yards, his second straight lackluster passing performance.

9. Texas A&M

Conner Weigman had a much better game against McNeese State than he did against Notre Dame in A&M's blowout win Saturday. The Aggies were winning this game 38-0 at halftime so they took care of business like they should have.

10. South Carolina

Maybe Shane Beamer has something going. LaNorris Sellers looked like a completely different quarterback compared to Week 1. What we probably already know is that South Carolina's front seven gives them a chance to be very disruptive against a lot of teams. They can really get after the quarterback and that's a good place to start.

11. Arkansas

Arkansas rushed for more than 300 yards in the first half racing out to a 21-7 lead on the road against top-25 Oklahoma State but ended up squandering the game like few other SEC teams could do. We did see the upside here. When Arkansas is playing well it can be a problem. Putting together a complete 60-minute game is another issue.

12. Florida

DJ Lagway got the call at quarterback and had a huge game (18/25, 456 yards, three touchdowns). Of course, that was against Samford, but it's something to build on. Florida still has a very difficult schedule so there's a real possibility the Gators end up lower on this list based on the sheer number of losses that are probably coming.

13. Auburn

This was a bad weekend for the Hugh Freeze era. Auburn fans wanted to see progress but losing at home to Cal isn't progress. Payton Thorne had a miserable game with four picks and any good vibes regarding the offense from the offseason are officially gone. The defense wasn't good enough either.

14. Vanderbilt

It's still possible and maybe even likely that Vanderbilt comes crashing to earth a bit, but you have to give them credit through two weeks. They're 2-0 with wins against Virginia Tech and now a 55-0 win against Alcorn State. There's probably some fool's gold there, yes, but Diego Pavia has been an upgrade. Alcorn State is not a good team but they only mustered 71 yards of total offense. At the very least this team is playing with a lot of confidence.

15. Mississippi State

The Bulldogs got off to a horrible start against Arizona State but did rally to make it more respectable (30-23) as a road game early in the season. Now, the bad news. Mississippi State was outgained on the ground ... 359 to 30. How does that translate to an SEC schedule? Not well.

16. Kentucky

Kentucky may not end up as the 16th-best team in the SEC, but you cannot overstate how troubling the offensive issues were against South Carolina. That was a must-win game by many estimations and they were just not at all prepared for the pressure South Carolina brought. The defense can still be a very solid unit in the SEC but they have to get things figured out on offense and Georgia comes in this week.