Week 1: Who Impressed in the SEC this week?
OK, so every week of the regular season we give our list of what teams impressed us or depressed us, or we simply didn’t care about that week. The ‘didn’t care about’ is usually reserved for the games against Charleston School Of The Blind that the SEC team wins 81187 – 0, or something thereafter.
Anyway, here’s who impressed us in Week 1.
- LSU (1-0): Walked into Clemson in absolutely war of an enviroment, and came out with the ‘W’. The defensive scheme finally looks great, with Harold Perkins finally in a MLB spot – something he wasn’t last season. He’s a monster. Offensively, Garret Nussmeier had 230 yards and a TD, but zero interceptions. Cade Durham did the ‘damage’ on the ground (74 yards) with 74 yards and a TD, but give it up for the defense.
- Auburn (1-0): We said that Auburn would go on the road and win, but by 3. Well, they went to the ‘hostile’ environment (we say that very loosely) in Texas, and beat the Bears soundly 38-24. That’s not to say that there wasn’t the usual chaos, with nine penalties and a worry about their secondary that was carved up by Baylor QB Sawyer Robertson for 419 yards and 3 TDs. But Jackson Arnold came back with his own on the floor, rushing for 137 yards and 3 TDs, while doing very little through the air.
- Tennessee (1-0): Thumped Syracuse 45-26 in Joey Aguilar’s first game, with their QB posting good numbers (247 yards, 3 TDs, 0 picks), while allowing Star Thomas (92 yards) and DeSean Bishop (82 yards) rack up in rushing yards.
- Kentucky (1-0): Does this mean that the Wildcats are now SEC contenders? Nope. But they controlled Toledo, walking away with the 24-16 win. Dante Dowdell was the story for UK, racking up 129 yards and a TD. If UK is to have any success this year, it will be on Dowdell – who’s a transfer from Nebraska.
- South Carolina (1-0): We thought it was all going to be offensive fireworks from LaNorris Sellers, but it was the defense that was the real story, grabbing two interceptions from Kyron Drones and taking a 80-yard punt to the house. Listen, it wasn’t all perfect – the score was 10-8 Gamecocks in the fourth quarter, but they dominated on both sides of scrimmage (Nick Harbor ran for 99 yards and a TD too).
- Texas A&M (1-0): Beat a feisty UTSA team behind four TDs for Marcel Reed. It was close in the first half, and then the Aggies ran away with it. The stacked offensive didn’t allow a sack. Good
- Mississippi State (1-0): Good that MSU are 1-0, but it was Southern Miss, y’all. Dominated from the third quarter onward, and that’s the sort of thing you could ask for.
- Ole Miss (1-0): Shut down a medicore Georgia State team. Austin Simmons had himself a DAY, throwing for 341 yards.
- Georgia (1-0) (STILL FUMING): DAMMIT GEORGIA YOU COULDN’T BEAT THE SPREAD, COULD YOU?
- Texas (0-1): The good news: The defense was awesome, stopping one of the best offenses in college football – keeping future NFL star Jeremiah Smith down for 43 yards on six receptions and no touchdowns. The bad news: Arch Manning didn’t exactly prove himself against dynamic competition, Sark admitted to not mixing things up enough, and the offense is certainly a work in progress. Early stuff, but still a medium performance. I’m not bothered about the Longhorns’ future, but you can’t have them high in a loss where they got stopped twice on 4th down in the Ohio State 10 and 1 from 5 from fourth down in all.
- Missouri (1-0): Smashed a FCS team. Yay.
- Arkansas (1-0): Smashed a FCS team. Yay.
- Florida (1-0): Smashed a FCS team. Yay.
- Vanderbilt (1-0): Smashed a FCS team. Yay.
- Oklahoma (1-0): Comfortably beat a FCS team. Yay.
- Alabama (0-1): Oh Dear Lord. Horrible lines on both sides of the ball. Couldn’t deal with Gus Malzahn’s offensive plan, which was ‘blister them with the run, and if you have to, throw the ball’. Ty Simpson – when he wasn’t running for his left – was pretty bad too. The Crimson Tide are in relegation form. The best thing about it was the Bama fan who gave the bird to the ESPN Cameras.