It’s only Week Two but there’s already a lot to gather from the first two weeks of SEC play. Whether expectations have been met, not met or exceeded, this will highlight everything significant learned from each team’s first 120 minutes on the field.
Bear in mind, there is still a long way to go in this season and a lot will change.
What was expected
While consensus conference predictions can become convoluted the more sources you have, there are a few things that were mostly agreed upon heading into the season.
In the East, Georgia was expected to run the table and claim the SEC East title with South Carolina, Missouri and Vanderbilt, which were predicted to fill the bottom three, in that order. Florida, Kentucky and Tennessee are the teams that analysts are iffy on, and they were expected to battle for the No. 2 spot.
The West is a lot more complicated. Besides Alabama being the consensus favorite to take the division, the rest was a mixed bag. CBS Sports had seven experts predict the final standings for each division, and LSU, Ole Miss and Mississippi State were projected at five different positions with everyone’s orders for 2-7 being vastly different.
If I had to lay out what was most projected, Texas A&M and Arkansas were expected to battle for the second and third spots; Mississippi State tended to fall in the middle at No. 4; Ole Miss and LSU were expected to battle for the fifth spot and Auburn was most projected to finish last.
So, how have those projections held up?
SEC East
The East has mostly maintained expectations through Week Two. Georgia looks like the best team in college football, and Missouri and Vanderbilt will probably struggle to pick up conference wins. The latter two dominated their first matchups against Group of Five opponents to start the season, but those wins were quickly proven to be insignificant, at least right now.
In a game where the Tigers were only seven-point underdogs, they were obliterated by Kansas State, struggling with turnovers, Kansas State’s rushing attack and the inability to move the ball with either the run or the pass. Missouri totaled just 222 offensive yards, 13 less than the Wildcats contributed on the ground, along with four turnovers in the third quarter that crushed their chances.
Vanderbilt fared slightly better, putting up 25 points and nearly 300 yards against Wake Forest. Turnovers cost the Commodores early and Sam Hartman picked their secondary apart, throwing for 300 yards and four touchdowns.
It’s too early to compare the teams, but don’t be surprised if the Commodores jump the Tigers in the East. In their last matchup, Missouri couldn’t put the game away until late in the fourth quarter, only winning by nine.
After picking up an impressive victory in Week One over previously No. 7 Utah, Florida was featured in the first direct matchup of the race for the No. 2 spot, facing Kentucky on Saturday night. It’s safe to say the Gators were less impressive in that one.
Kentucky’s offense wasn’t much more successful than Florida’s, but they still found a way to win by shutting down Anthony Richardson and converting a huge interception into a momentum-stealing seven points off a pick-six late in the third. Head coach Mark Stoops and the Kentucky Wildcats are here to stay, and while I don’t see them challenging Georgia for the East throne this season, they are definitely one of the favorites for that No. 2 spot.
I say ‘one of the’ because of Tennessee.
Like the Wildcats, the Volunteers earned their first ranked victory of the season in Week Two with a 34-27 win over No. 17 Pittsburgh. Tennessee’s offense has one of the highest ceilings in the SEC, sporting a greatly efficient quarterback in Hendon Hooker, two talented backs in Jaylen Wright along with Jabari Small and a receiver coming off a 1,000-yard season and on pace for another in Cedric Tillman.
That was the expectation going into the season, and it has held up for the most part, though the rushing attack did struggle in Week Two. We’ll have a better idea of where they stand in the race very soon, as Tennessee faces the Gators in less than two weeks.
South Carolina is currently the biggest question mark of the East. Its first conference opponent was a rough one in Arkansas, and though the Gamecocks lost by double digits, they did manage to get in the game in the third quarter. After narrowing the Razorback lead to five in the third, they got the ball back, but failed to capitalize. Arkansas would score on their next possession and the Gamecocks would never get within a possession for the rest of the game.
Unfortunately, they face Georgia this weekend, but they will have a two-week break from tough matchups before their October matchup against Kentucky.
Now, on to the West.
SEC West
I’ll go ahead and address the elephant in the room. There’s no need to freak out about Alabama almost losing to Texas.
Well… listen. The Crimson Tide are still the favorite to win the SEC West, that isn’t a question. But would I say that’s completely guaranteed? No, I wouldn’t.
Nothing is guaranteed in college football, even when it comes to the powerhouse teams of this generation like Alabama. The Longhorns showed that there are plenty of realities where the Crimson Tide could lose.
They came one point away from beating the No. 1 team in the country without their starting quarterback for three quarters, which should be a huge concern for the Alabama coaching staff.
Bryce Young is incredibly talented but the weapons around him don’t appear as proficient as in years past. Couple that with an excessive number of penalties, and this team could struggle against some of the conference’s better teams.
Speaking of which.
Arkansas survived a tough opening game against Cincinnati and handled business in its first conference matchup against South Carolina. This team sports an incredibly balanced offense that can keep pace with anyone, and with Alabama having concerning flaws to alleviate and the teams facing off in less than a month, earning the No. 1 spot may not be out of the question.
Mississippi State has vastly exceeded expectations, covering the spread for both of its matchups by multiple scores. And with the Alabama secondary being its displayed weakness against Texas, giving up nearly 300 yards on 68% completed passes between a starting quarterback and his backup, the air raid should be efficient against the Crimson Tide defense.
With each team Mike Leach inherits, his ability to build them up to prominence grows quicker. It took him eight years to build a team that could contend for the Big 12 South title in Texas Tech, four years to establish Washington State as a PAC-12 contender and now, we are getting glimpses of Mississippi State’s potential under him this season.
Not to mention the Bulldogs have looked miles better than Texas A&M, a team that almost went from No. 6 to out of the polls entirely after an embarrassing loss to Appalachian State. The Aggies are going to struggle offensively this season with their questions at quarterback, and I don’t see them as a team that can take down Alabama this season.
Ole Miss and LSU are the division’s biggest question marks.
The Rebels struggled with turnovers in their opening game against Troy but managed to keep the Trojan offense from scoring for much of the game. The Tigers had their own opening game struggling, going down by two scores against Florida State before narrowly missing out on completing an incredible fourth quarter comeback. They came out of the gate shaky and struggled particularly at getting their defense off the field on third down and with special teams and protecting the quarterback.
Like Ole Miss, LSU’s only other opponent besides the Seminoles was an FCS opponent. Both teams seem to be working to fix their early problems, with the Rebels committing just one turnover against Central Arkansas and LSU’s offensive line and special teams unit each performing better against Southern.
Each team possesses tremendous potential and considerable unpredictability. Ole Miss is still deciding who its starting quarterback is after Week Two and LSU is clearly experiencing growing pains in its first season under Brian Kelly.
Both teams look much better than Auburn, at least.
Despite facing Mercer and San Jose State in its first two games, Auburn averaged just 33 points on offense and have given up 16 points to both opponents, with the latter coming pretty close to pulling off an upset. Though early, the Tigers seem primed for last in the division, and that could be further proven in their next game against No. 22 Penn State.
There is so much to look forward to from the SEC this season. Every week will feature important matchups and every game could produce surprising results, so don’t disregard a single game and be sure to stay tuned. It’s going to be an exciting season.
