Though SEC teams have obviously been playing to begin the 2023 college football season, the SEC football schedule will get started with Week 3. There are several SEC matchups throughout Saturday this week, including Georgia hosting South Carolina, LSU visiting Mississippi State and more.
Because we haven't seen conference play before that, though, the SEC football standings are ultimately just based on win-loss record overall right now. With only two games worth of sample size, even that only means so much because of the level of competition that some teams (like, you know, Alabama) have faced compared to others.
A better early litmus test, however, could be to look at how these SEC football teams stack up in terms of offensive yards per play.
Yes, level of competition certainly matters in that metric as well. Having said that, it's a good way to see which offenses have gotten off of the ground out of the gate in the conference and which might be struggling a bit, for one reason or another. So let's take a look at the SEC football standings ordered by offensive yards per play.
SEC football standings ordered by yards per play through Week 2
- Kentucky Wildcats (6.9)
- LSU Tigers (6.8)
- Georgia Bulldogs (6.2)
- Alabama Crimson Tide (6.0)
- Vanderbilt Commodores (5.8)
- Tennessee Volunteers (5.8)
- Texas A&M Aggies (5.7)
- Auburn Tigers (5.7)
- Ole Miss Rebels (5.4)
- Mississippi State Bulldogs (5.3)
- Florida Gators (4.9)
- Arkansas Razorbacks (4.7)
- Missouri Tigers (4.6)
- South Carolina Gamecocks (4.4)
It's not particularly shocking to see teams like Mississippi State and Missouri near the bottom of these standings in yards per play. Coming into the season, people were dubious that the Bulldogs or Tigers would be able to consistently produce offensively, so it makes sense that they've ultimately lived up to that. Florida might also fit into that equation with the doubt around quarterback Graham Mertz.
At least based on preseason expectations, though, it's much more surprising to see Arkansas, with a veteran offensive tandem of KJ Jefferson and Rocket Sanders, and South Carolina with Spencer Rattler as two of the bottom-three teams in the SEC standings.
And on the flip side, seeing new-look Kentucky with Devin Leary atop the standings and even Tennessee in the middle of the pack are surprises for this conference. Of course, at least for the Wildcats, that's likely to fall back to earth when the competition level rises.
SEC East standings ordered by yards per play through Week 2
- Kentucky Wildcats (6.9)
- Georgia Bulldogs (6.2)
- Vanderbilt Commodores (5.8)
- Tennessee Volunteers (5.8)
- Florida Gators (4.9)
- Missouri Tigers (4.6)
- South Carolina Gamecocks (4.4)
We've already touched slightly on Kentucky, Tennessee, Florida, Missouri and South Carolina. When it comes to Georgia, it shouldn't be a surprise that the Bulldogs rank this well in yards per play given that they've played UT Martin and Ball State. In fact, you might even want that number higher given who the Dawgs have beaten to this point.
Vanderbilt is the outlier, it would seem. But Clark Lea has done a great job of getting more talent in the Commodores program of late and we're seeing some of that. Of course, the 'Dores might have an issue on the defensive side of the ball to allow them to capitalize on a good offense this season.
SEC West standings ordered by yards per play through Week 2
- LSU Tigers (6.8)
- Alabama Crimson Tide (6.0)
- Texas A&M Aggies (5.7)
- Auburn Tigers (5.7)
- Ole Miss Rebels (5.4)
- Mississippi State Bulldogs (5.3)
- Arkansas Razorbacks (4.7)
It's still early and they may have lost to Miami, but Texas A&M might've found something with the Jimbo Fisher-Bobby Petrino marriage as the Aggies offense has looked quite good behind Connor Weigman at quarterback.
What might be wilder is Auburn being at No. 4 in the SEC West. The Tigers have looked pedestrian at best offensively this season, so to see them at 5.7 yards per play is a bit surprising. I'm certainly skeptical that cotninues as Hugh Freeze's team gets into conference play.