We’ve reached the end of the road for the 2023 college football regular season, with one big game to go in the SEC.

Rivalry week lived up to its billing, with all but a few games close and exciting. Still, the favored team won in every case, which didn’t lead to much movement in the SEC standings or in these rankings.

Alabama and Georgia will meet for the SEC championship on Saturday in Atlanta, with the winner likely ticketed for the College Football Playoff. Those teams and seven others will find out their postseason destinations next Sunday, with an unfortunate five sitting home during bowl season.

So how do the teams in the SEC stack up we finish up the regular season? Here’s the Week 14 edition of AL.com’s SEC football power rankings for 2023 (all times Central and all games Saturday unless noted):

14. Vanderbilt (2-10, 0-8)

Last week’s ranking: 14

Last week’s game: Lost to Tennessee, 48-24

This week’s game: Season complete

Sweet, merciful relief finally came for the Commodores, whose 2023 season is finally over after getting doubled-up by their in-state rivals on Saturday. The bar for success at Vanderbilt is obviously lower than anywhere else in the SEC, but a season with zero conference wins and 10 straight losses to finish up can’t be viewed as anything other than an epic failure. Clark Lea needs to show some progress in Year 4 or the Commodores could be back to the coaching drawing board again.

13. Arkansas (4-8, 1-7)

Last week’s ranking: 13

Last week’s game: Lost to Missouri, 48-14

This week’s game: Season complete

Word came out early last week that Sam Pittman was going to get another year to “bring home the bacon” (sorry) in Fayetteville, and his team responded by … getting plastered all over Razorback Stadium by the Tigers on Black Friday. Quarterback KJ Jefferson getting hurt on the first play of the game didn’t help, but that was no excuse for a no-show on defense. Arkansas will be in do-or-die mode next season in what will be an even-tougher SEC, thanks to the arrival of Oklahoma and former Southwest Conference foe Texas. At least the old-timey storylines will be fun.

12. Mississippi State (5-7, 1-7)

Last week’s ranking: 12

Last week’s game: Lost to Ole Miss, 17-7

This week’s game: Season complete

The Bulldogs couldn’t get their season over fast enough once they decided to move on from coach Zach Arnett after just 10 games on Nov. 13. Mississippi State did put up a fight as always vs. Ole Miss in the Egg Bowl, but quarterback Will Rogers clearly wasn’t 100% and the offense suffered for it. The offensive woes wasted what was a pretty good Bulldogs defense this season, which included two star linebackers in Nathaniel Watson and Jett Johnson. MSU hired former Ole Miss and Oklahoma offensive coordinator as head coach Jeff Lebby on Sunday, and his first order of business might be trying to re-recruit Rogers out of the transfer portal.

11. South Carolina (5-7, 3-5)

Last week’s ranking: 10

Last week’s game: Lost to Clemson, 16-7

This week’s game: Season complete The Gamecocks finished off what has been a forgettable season with a flat performance against arch-rival Clemson on Saturday night, giving up a defensive touchdown in the first minute of the game and never really having a chance to win after that. South Carolina certainly took a step back this year, going from eight wins to five while essentially wasting the final season with an NFL quarterback on its roster. The SEC is only going to more difficult next season, and Shane Beamer will have to show he’s able to keep his team’s heads above water in the sport’s toughest league.

10. Florida (5-7, 3-5)

Last week’s ranking: 8

Last week’s game: Lost to Florida State, 24-15

This week’s game: Season complete

If there’s been progress in two seasons of the Billy Napier regime, it’s difficult to see it. The Gators have been coming up with new ways to blow it this season, losing November games in which they led in the fourth quarter vs. Arkansas, Missouri and a wounded Florida State team. Maybe Florida will begin to win those kinds of games in 2024. After a third straight seven-loss season, they certainly will have to if there’s going to be a fourth year for Napier.

9. Kentucky (7-5, 3-5)

Last week’s ranking: 11

Last week’s game: Beat Louisville, 38-31

This week’s game: Bowl game TBD

The overall season has been a disappointment, but the Wildcats scored a pair of major wins this past weekend. First came a 38-31 victory over ninth-ranked in-state rival Louisville on Saturday, Kentucky’s fifth straight win in the Governor’s Cup. News broke that afternoon that Mark Stoops was headed to Texas A&M, but talks broke down late that night and Stoops ended up staying put. The Wildcats have already clinched their seventh winning season in eight years, which hasn’t always been a given around Lexington.

10. Auburn (6-6, 3-5)

Last week’s ranking: 9

Last week’s game: Lost to Alabama, 27-24

This week’s game: Bowl game TBD

The Tigers will get one more game in 2023 to wash away the taste of two of the most-devastating losses in program history the last two weeks, albeit for different reasons. The New Mexico State loss was bad enough, only to be topped by an Iron Bowl defeat that seemed calculated for maximum brutality. Hugh Freeze’s team outexecuted a superior Alabama team for nearly 60 minutes, only for the Crimson Tide to pull out the victory with a fourth-down miracle (which also included an incredible coverage bust by the Auburn defense). There are probably better days ahead for the Tigers, but that doesn’t mean this season didn’t include its share of missed opportunities.

7. Texas A&M (7-5, 4-4)

Last week’s ranking: 7

Last week’s game: Lost to LSU, 42-30

This week’s game: Bowl game TBD

The Aggies showed some life under interim coach Elijah Robinson, and held LSU’s powerful offense in check for most of the day before fading late. Of course, the weekend drama in College Station had little to do with what happened on the field. Texas A&M appeared to have raided SEC rival Kentucky for coach Mark Stoops at one point Saturday, only for the deal to fall apart amid rumors of booster interference. By late Sunday, the Aggies appeared to have settled on Duke’s Mike Elko, the former defensive coordinator under fired coach Jimbo Fisher. It remains to be seen if he’ll be an upgrade on the man they just spent $77 million to fire.

6. Tennessee (8-4, 4-4)

Last week’s ranking: 6

Last week’s game: Beat Vanderbilt, 48-24

This week’s game: Bowl game TBD

The Volunteers finally found a team they could beat up on, building a 31-10 halftime lead and cruising to victory against the hapless Commodores. It was a fun way to end what has been a disappointing regular season for Tennessee, which for the second straight November dropped out of the SEC East race with a whimper. The good news is there are no longer divisions after 2023, so Josh Heupel’s team isn’t in direct competition with Georgia anymore to try and get to Atlanta (not that the rest of the SEC isn’t full of enough scary monsters). Tennessee missed a shot at a second straight 10-win season, but can still get to nine wins for just the second time since 2016 with a bowl victory.

5. Missouri (10-2, 6-2)

Last week’s ranking: 5

Last week’s game: Beat Arkansas, 48-14

This week’s game: Bowl game TBD

The Tigers are not only a legitimately good team, they are a barrel of fun to watch, which is not something many of us ever thought we’d be saying after a half-decade of pretty non-descript football in Columbia. But credit Eli Drinkwitz for getting the job done in Year 4, and he’s probably headed for SEC Coach of the Year honors. Missouri has already locked up a 10-win season and is in pretty good shape to play in its first New Year’s Six bowl in a decade.

4. LSU (9-3, 6-2)

Last week’s ranking: 4

Last week’s game: Beat Texas A&M, 42-30

This week’s game: Bowl game TBD

The Tigers continued to not play a lick of defense vs. Texas A&M on Saturday, but it didn’t matter because they had Malik Nabers and Jayden Daniels — the Heisman Trophy favorite as of right now — and their opponent didn’t. The LSU flying circus will have one more game — probably in a Florida bowl — before Daniels and company move on to the next level. You could make the case this team underachieved in 2023, but it was certainly never boring.

3. Ole Miss (10-2, 6-2)

Last week’s ranking: 3

Last week’s game: Beat Mississippi State, 17-7

This week’s game: Bowl game TBD

The Rebels ground out a 10-point win in the Egg Bowl, which is always among the most hard-fought and nastiest rivalry games in the SEC. That gave Ole Miss its second 10-win season in three years, and a decent shot at both a New Year’s Six bowl berth and a Top 10 final ranking. Lane Kiffin’s former offensive coordinator was just hired as Mississippi State’s head coach, which should add even more spice to the rivalry in the coming years.

2. Alabama (11-1, 8-0)

Last week’s ranking: 2

Last week’s game: Beat Auburn, 27-24

This week’s game: vs. Georgia in SEC championship game, 3 p.m., CBS

It was another surreal Iron Bowl at Jordan-Hare Stadium, but this one went Alabama’s way for once. Jalen Milroe’s game-winning touchdown pass to Isaiah Bond on 4th-and-31 with 32 seconds to play will go down as one of the greatest moments in the history of a rivalry and a Crimson Tide program filled with them. More importantly, it kept Alabama’s national-championship hopes alive for another week. Nick Saban’s team gets its turn in the ring Saturday in Atlanta vs. Georgia, which hasn’t lost since the last time it faced Alabama in the SEC championship game two years ago.

1. Georgia (12-0, 8-0)

Last week’s ranking: 1

Last week’s game: Beat Georgia Tech, 31-23

This week’s game: vs. Alabama in SEC championship game, 3 p.m., CBS

It wasn’t the buzzsaw performance we’ve seen from the Bulldogs in recent weeks, but they were able to get up by two scores in the second half and rest key players in advance of the SEC championship showdown with Alabama. Georgia set the conference record with its 29th consecutive victory in the win over Georgia Tech, breaking a mark held by none other than the Crimson Tide. Kirby Smart’s team can continue its pursuit of an unprecedented (in the modern era, at least) third straight national championship when it meets Nick Saban and company in Atlanta this weekend.

Creg Stephenson has worked for AL.com since 2010 and covered college football for a variety of publications since 1994. Contact him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter at @CregStephenson.