SEC Football Week 1 Takeaways
[caption id="attachment_267271" align="alignnone" width="600"]
(Photo: Matthew Emmons, USA TODAY Sports)[/caption]
The college football season is officially here! I am so excited for the third year of my weekly SEC Football Column. Different from the last two years, I will now be reviewing the weekend that was in conference play instead of previewing it. Here are my biggest takeaways from week one!
1. Auburn’s Big Win
There were several huge moments this week in SEC football. However, none will be more significant in the scope of this season then Auburn’s miraculous win against the Oregon Ducks.
First things first: the Ducks are out of the playoff picture now. This was the toughest game on the schedule of a team that has a very good chance of winning the Pac-12. With this loss, it seems relatively obvious that they are out no matter what thanks to their weak strength of schedule.
For the Tigers, this was a huge win not only because their schedule is absolutely brutal, but it gives Head Coach Guz Malzahn and true freshman quarterback Bo Nix momentum for the rest of the year. Did Nix play great? Well, not exactly considering he completed only 13 out of 31 passes for 177 yards with two interceptions. However, he still found a way to lead Auburn to a victory thanks to an amazing game-winning touchdown pass.
https://twitter.com/BleacherReport/status/1168014885508153344?s=20
Expect big things for Auburn in the immediate future. Their next two games will be the easiest two-week stretch of their season. The Tigers play Tulane next followed by a matchup with Kent State. Before you know it, Nix and company will be 3-0 and ranked in the top-10 when they head to College Station to play Texas A&M on September 21st. With this win under their belts, the sky is now the limit for a very talented SEC West team which now has a huge boost of confidence.
2. The Dumpster Fire That is the SEC East
Whoa boy. Now time for the very bad news out of the SEC this week. The East division was a total disaster. Yes, Georgia won handily, and Kentucky covered the spread against a mid-major. However, everyone else looked terrible. Florida looked incompetent in week zero even in victory, Vanderbilt didn’t belong on the field with Georgia, South Carolina lost to North Carolina (!), Missouri lost to Wyoming (!!), and Tennessee lost at home to Georgia State (?!?!?!?!).
https://twitter.com/finebaum/status/1167935050337243139?s=20
https://twitter.com/darrenrovell/status/1167936097214582785?s=20
Let’s all be honest, this was a completely indefensible start to the season for the division. Where do any of these teams (especially the Volunteers) go from here? First, I think Missouri will be fine. They almost had more than 150 yards than Wyoming, and the Tigers controlled much of the game. Kelly Bryant also played excellent as he set a career high in passing yards with 423. They simply lost because they could not stop turning the ball over.
Tennessee and South Carolina on the other hand….oh dear. The Gamecocks might as well call it a season considering that they still have the toughest schedule in FBS football still left to play. Plus, quarterback Jake Bentley will be out due to injury for an extended period of time. As for the Volunteers, I don’t have much analysis here. Its one of the worst losses in program history, and their entire fan base already wants Head Coach Jeremy Pruitt fired. You hate to see it.
The East has to start pulling its weight if the SEC wants to once again be the best conference in football. Until then, this is a conference that’s being extremely pulled down by at least four disappointing teams.
2. Alabama Wins and Loses Big
To absolutely no surprise, Alabama took care of business and annihilated their first opponent of the season. Their victory came in typical Crimson Tide fashion as quarterback Tua Tagovailoa passed for over 300 yards and four touchdowns. Beating a Duke football team by 39 points may seem like an easy task, but Alabama did it in impressive fashion thanks to the outstanding play of receiver Jerry Jeudy.
https://twitter.com/BobbySkinnerNFL/status/1167889690998931462?s=20
https://twitter.com/ftbeard_17/status/1167920760607756289?s=20
That’s the good news. However, the bad news is that the Crimson Tide lost starting middle linebacker Dylan Moses to injury earlier in the week. Yes, Nick Saban has several blue-chip linebackers behind Moses that will be able to step up. However, truly replacing a player of Moses’ talent and experience will be very difficult to do.
Moses was a consensus projected top-10 pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, but more importantly he was an integral piece in that famous Alabama defense. The bright side is that this injury happened before the season even started. There is plenty of time to get the new middle linebacker ready for the SEC Championship and possibly the playoff.
4. Kentucky Battles Through Early Adversity
Let’s get back to the SEC East really quick. Not everything was absolutely terrible as Kentucky covered the spread and took care of a decent mid-major team in Toledo at home. The first half was rough to say the least as the Wildcats went into halftime tied with a team from the MAC Conference. The good news is that second half was a much different story.
Not only did Kentucky hold Toledo to just ten points in the half, but quarterback Terry Wilson really got going. Both of his passing touchdowns came after halftime, and he looked much more comfortable after a shaky start. While Wilson did have a good game overall, he is still missing some big passes in crucial moments. But no one is perfect, and Wilson can still air it out.
https://twitter.com/ftbeard_17/status/1167863427076743169?s=20
Overall, the performance went pretty much according to plan for the Wildcats. They took care of business because Coach Mark Stoops has built a program made for avoiding such terrible loses. But there is still much improvement to be had. The defensive secondary was exposed often in the first half, and the offense is still finding its groove. Expect another solid victory this weekend against Eastern Michigan.
5. Keep an Eye On LSU’s Offense
This fifth slot is always going to be what I think is the most underrated story from the previous weekend. In week one, no team went under the radar as much as LSU did. Yes, they demolished a much lesser opponent in Georgia Southern, but it was the way they won that mattered.
The Tigers rolled out a new-look offense featuring an RPO scheme, and it looked lethal with Joe Burrow passing for five touchdowns and almost 300 yards. This unit often held the team back in 2018 so it’s a very promising sign that the offense seems like it took big leap forward in the offseason.
https://twitter.com/PeterBurnsESPN/status/1167957724753096704?s=20
https://twitter.com/CodyWorsham/status/1168728186433282048?s=20
This is incredibly strange to see from LSU. It’s like if your favorite rock band decided to switch to hip-hop music for good. For this entire decade it has felt like the Tigers have been rolling out an offense from the 1970’s. Now they look like the Oklahoma Sooners out there. Of course, Georgia Southern isn’t the team to truly test the strength of this new offense.
However, the Tigers will take on Texas this coming weekend in what will be one of the biggest college football games of the season. Not only will it be a top-10 matchup, but it will have huge playoff implications as well. No matter who wins the game, we will see just how great this LSU offense truly is.
(Photo: Matthew Emmons, USA TODAY Sports)[/caption]
The college football season is officially here! I am so excited for the third year of my weekly SEC Football Column. Different from the last two years, I will now be reviewing the weekend that was in conference play instead of previewing it. Here are my biggest takeaways from week one!
1. Auburn’s Big Win
There were several huge moments this week in SEC football. However, none will be more significant in the scope of this season then Auburn’s miraculous win against the Oregon Ducks.
First things first: the Ducks are out of the playoff picture now. This was the toughest game on the schedule of a team that has a very good chance of winning the Pac-12. With this loss, it seems relatively obvious that they are out no matter what thanks to their weak strength of schedule.
For the Tigers, this was a huge win not only because their schedule is absolutely brutal, but it gives Head Coach Guz Malzahn and true freshman quarterback Bo Nix momentum for the rest of the year. Did Nix play great? Well, not exactly considering he completed only 13 out of 31 passes for 177 yards with two interceptions. However, he still found a way to lead Auburn to a victory thanks to an amazing game-winning touchdown pass.
https://twitter.com/BleacherReport/status/1168014885508153344?s=20
Expect big things for Auburn in the immediate future. Their next two games will be the easiest two-week stretch of their season. The Tigers play Tulane next followed by a matchup with Kent State. Before you know it, Nix and company will be 3-0 and ranked in the top-10 when they head to College Station to play Texas A&M on September 21st. With this win under their belts, the sky is now the limit for a very talented SEC West team which now has a huge boost of confidence.
2. The Dumpster Fire That is the SEC East
Whoa boy. Now time for the very bad news out of the SEC this week. The East division was a total disaster. Yes, Georgia won handily, and Kentucky covered the spread against a mid-major. However, everyone else looked terrible. Florida looked incompetent in week zero even in victory, Vanderbilt didn’t belong on the field with Georgia, South Carolina lost to North Carolina (!), Missouri lost to Wyoming (!!), and Tennessee lost at home to Georgia State (?!?!?!?!).
https://twitter.com/finebaum/status/1167935050337243139?s=20
https://twitter.com/darrenrovell/status/1167936097214582785?s=20
Let’s all be honest, this was a completely indefensible start to the season for the division. Where do any of these teams (especially the Volunteers) go from here? First, I think Missouri will be fine. They almost had more than 150 yards than Wyoming, and the Tigers controlled much of the game. Kelly Bryant also played excellent as he set a career high in passing yards with 423. They simply lost because they could not stop turning the ball over.
Tennessee and South Carolina on the other hand….oh dear. The Gamecocks might as well call it a season considering that they still have the toughest schedule in FBS football still left to play. Plus, quarterback Jake Bentley will be out due to injury for an extended period of time. As for the Volunteers, I don’t have much analysis here. Its one of the worst losses in program history, and their entire fan base already wants Head Coach Jeremy Pruitt fired. You hate to see it.
The East has to start pulling its weight if the SEC wants to once again be the best conference in football. Until then, this is a conference that’s being extremely pulled down by at least four disappointing teams.
2. Alabama Wins and Loses Big
To absolutely no surprise, Alabama took care of business and annihilated their first opponent of the season. Their victory came in typical Crimson Tide fashion as quarterback Tua Tagovailoa passed for over 300 yards and four touchdowns. Beating a Duke football team by 39 points may seem like an easy task, but Alabama did it in impressive fashion thanks to the outstanding play of receiver Jerry Jeudy.
https://twitter.com/BobbySkinnerNFL/status/1167889690998931462?s=20
https://twitter.com/ftbeard_17/status/1167920760607756289?s=20
That’s the good news. However, the bad news is that the Crimson Tide lost starting middle linebacker Dylan Moses to injury earlier in the week. Yes, Nick Saban has several blue-chip linebackers behind Moses that will be able to step up. However, truly replacing a player of Moses’ talent and experience will be very difficult to do.
Moses was a consensus projected top-10 pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, but more importantly he was an integral piece in that famous Alabama defense. The bright side is that this injury happened before the season even started. There is plenty of time to get the new middle linebacker ready for the SEC Championship and possibly the playoff.
4. Kentucky Battles Through Early Adversity
Let’s get back to the SEC East really quick. Not everything was absolutely terrible as Kentucky covered the spread and took care of a decent mid-major team in Toledo at home. The first half was rough to say the least as the Wildcats went into halftime tied with a team from the MAC Conference. The good news is that second half was a much different story.
Not only did Kentucky hold Toledo to just ten points in the half, but quarterback Terry Wilson really got going. Both of his passing touchdowns came after halftime, and he looked much more comfortable after a shaky start. While Wilson did have a good game overall, he is still missing some big passes in crucial moments. But no one is perfect, and Wilson can still air it out.
https://twitter.com/ftbeard_17/status/1167863427076743169?s=20
Overall, the performance went pretty much according to plan for the Wildcats. They took care of business because Coach Mark Stoops has built a program made for avoiding such terrible loses. But there is still much improvement to be had. The defensive secondary was exposed often in the first half, and the offense is still finding its groove. Expect another solid victory this weekend against Eastern Michigan.
5. Keep an Eye On LSU’s Offense
This fifth slot is always going to be what I think is the most underrated story from the previous weekend. In week one, no team went under the radar as much as LSU did. Yes, they demolished a much lesser opponent in Georgia Southern, but it was the way they won that mattered.
The Tigers rolled out a new-look offense featuring an RPO scheme, and it looked lethal with Joe Burrow passing for five touchdowns and almost 300 yards. This unit often held the team back in 2018 so it’s a very promising sign that the offense seems like it took big leap forward in the offseason.
https://twitter.com/PeterBurnsESPN/status/1167957724753096704?s=20
https://twitter.com/CodyWorsham/status/1168728186433282048?s=20
This is incredibly strange to see from LSU. It’s like if your favorite rock band decided to switch to hip-hop music for good. For this entire decade it has felt like the Tigers have been rolling out an offense from the 1970’s. Now they look like the Oklahoma Sooners out there. Of course, Georgia Southern isn’t the team to truly test the strength of this new offense.
However, the Tigers will take on Texas this coming weekend in what will be one of the biggest college football games of the season. Not only will it be a top-10 matchup, but it will have huge playoff implications as well. No matter who wins the game, we will see just how great this LSU offense truly is.
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