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5. Alabama (7): Saturday's early slate had Alabama in the spotlight in a tricky road spot at Mississippi State, which entered the weekend at No. 16. What voters tuned in and found was yet another runaway win for the Crimson Tide, who have put up 45+ points in every game and are beating opponents by 28.8 points per game. This is a team that's building a case for No. 1 consideration, and that debate will be the backdrop for next week's showdown with Georgia.

1. Texas (Last week — 1): The Longhorns were off in Week 5 and will be back in action against rival Oklahoma next Saturday.

2. Georgia (2): Though their ranking is not expected to change, the anticipation for next week's meeting with Alabama was only heightened after another dominant defensive performance in a 38-14 win against Vanderbilt. The Bulldogs are allowing just 14.7 points per game in SEC play through three games after bottling up Blaze Berlowitz, but the challenge changes when staring down Keelon Russell and the Crimson Tide in Tuscaloosa next weekend.

9. Ole Miss (9): The Rebels were off in Week 5 and will be back in action next week at Vanderbilt. Their profile took a hit with Florida's loss at Missouri, but the head-to-head win against LSU could prevent any major changes.

10. LSU (11): We are not projecting much of a rankings impact from LSU's lopsided win against in-state FCS foe McNeese.

13. Florida (8): While it will be difficult for Florida fans to justify a drop below the Ole Miss team that the Gators just beat, we are projecting that voters will use the Oregon-Mississippi State-Tennessee range as the floor for a move down. The strength of the Ole Miss win still carries plenty of weight, but the poor performance at Missouri and a common opponent with Tennessee (close win against Auburn) point to a shared tier in that range of the SEC.

14. Mississippi State (16): It does seem confusing that a team could give up 56 points at home and not move in the rankings, but the strength of Mississippi State's resume and the growing respect for Alabama could leave voters keeping the Bulldogs in this range on their ballots. With head-to-head wins against Missouri and Minnesota, this is a team that has already logged multiple quality power conference victories, and the loss to the Bulldogs included myriad injury issues, the most notable of which was star quarterback Kamario Taylor.

15. Missouri (25): A total of 39 voters did not even have Missouri on their ballots last week, so it's fair to assume that after beating Florida, we are going to see quite the jump in the rankings. Not only are those voters who had Missouri unranked likely to change their tune, but the boldest Tigers backers (voters who had Missouri already inside the top 20) will only be further entrenched in their view of this being one of the top teams in the country. Last week's head-to-head loss to Mississippi State makes for an easy pairing on a ballot, so while the rankings may be varied across all the voters, we are projecting a consensus landing spot in the mid-teens.

17. Tennessee (17): While freshman quarterback Faizon Brandon was benched in Saturday's win against Auburn, running back Desean Bishop was there to carry the load with a career day, rolling up 220 rushing yards and three touchdowns on 34 carries. The week ahead will bring questions about the outlook for Josh Huepel's quarterback room, but voters will take the bounce-back win as a good sign after last week's loss to Texas.

24. Kentucky (24): A road win at South Carolina provided plenty of fodder on the Gamecocks' side of things with questions about the future of Shane Beamer, but in the Bluegrass State it's nothing but celebration for where they are with first-year head coach Will Stein. The comeback and two-point walk-off provided enough thrills to keep the Wildcats inside the top 25 with teams like Nebraska, Wisconsin, Duke and Minnesota likely getting closer to the cut line.