AuburnFamilyNews.com: SEC Recap Week 1: Sissies and Snooze Buttons

Wednesday, September 8, 2021

SEC Recap Week 1: Sissies and Snooze Buttons

Let’s close the book on opening weekend with a conference roundup!

Howdy, pardners, it’s time to lasso the results from the SEC for Week 1 and see where things stand with everyone off and running!

WEEK 1 RESULTS

Alabama - W 44-13 vs Miami

Arkansas - W 38-17 vs Rice

Auburn - W 60-10 vs Akron

Florida - W 35-14 vs FAU

Georgia - W 10-3 vs Clemson

Kentucky - W 45-10 vs UL Monroe

LSU - L 38-27 @ UCLA

Mississippi State - W 35-34 vs La Tech

Missouri - W 34-24 vs CMU

Ole Miss - W 43-24 vs Louisville

South Carolina - W 46-0 vs Eastern Illinois

Tennessee - W 38-6 vs Bowling Green

Texas A&M - W 41-10 vs Kent State

Vanderbilt - L 23-3 vs ETSU

MAIN THEME - SNOOZE BUTTON

This was truly a Week 1 in terms of how quickly everyone got off the blocks. Save for Auburn, Alabama, Ole Miss, and South Carolina, the other ten teams in the league had a little trouble after hitting the snooze.

  • Arkansas and Rice were tied heading into the 4th quarter, and the Razorbacks needed a 21-0 run to pull away in the final period.
  • Florida was sluggish, up only 14-0 at halftime over FAU, and now they’ve got a quarterback controversy after backup Anthony Richardson ran wild.
  • While Georgia played the best opponent of the weekend and got the best win of the day, Bulldog fans would be lying if they weren’t concerned about their offense. J.T. Daniels completed 22 passes for 135 yards, and they committed 10 penalties in the win. Yes, it was Clemson, but it was messy.
  • Kentucky did run away fairly quickly, but they led just 14-7 after a quarter over the Terry Bowdens.
  • LSU lost and took the brunt of it on the chin after Ed O wanted to work over a UCLA fan because of his sissy blue shirt (are purple and yellow really that much better?), and the Tigers under his command are looking more and more similar to the Gene Chizik Auburn version from 2010-2012.
  • Mississippi State somehow managed to escape La Tech at home, making a 21-0 comeback in the final quarter and watching as the La Tech kicker couldn’t bang through a 60-yard field goal for the win as time expired. Mike Leach has trouble, and the schedule sets up to where the Bulldogs may have to beat LSU again for him not to sit in boiling water.
  • Missouri beat CMU, but it was close into the 3rd quarter, and the Tigers got outgained by the Chippewas, allowing 475 yards in the 34-24 win.
  • Tennessee, too, had trouble keeping the pedal down after an early touchdown, and got slowed down by Bowling Green (the only team that Akron beat last year) in leading just 14-6 at halftime. They pulled away late, but they were one of many SEC schools having difficulty hitting top speed.
  • Texas A&M, a preseason top five team in some eyes, led just 10-3 over Kent State at halftime. The Aggies poured it on after the intermission, but Haynes King threw three interceptions in his debut (A&M tossed four total picks), but overall they looked pretty balanced and the running game turned up for a huge performance with 303 yards and a 7.2 ypc average.
  • Vanderbilt. What can you say?

FAVORITE PLAY OF THE WEEK

This is a serious Gus Malzahn vibe from Lane Kiffin, and maybe I am a little wistful that we don’t have this exact type of creativity in the playbook anymore (don’t get me wrong, EXTREMELY pleased with what I saw from Auburn on Saturday). This is just a lovely little ditty that can do nothing more than give Nick Saban a little bit of heartburn. Unfortunately, this play got called back because of an illegal man downfield (you can see big boy in the middle stray just a little too far past the line), but if this works when Ole Miss plays Bama in a couple weeks, you can bet we’ll see some high-level yelling from the crimson sideline.

WHAT SHOULD YOU TAKE NOTICE OF?

  1. Unfortunately, Alabama is at a plug and play stage of life. Bryce Young will be around for three years, and if Saturday was any indication, he’s going to be extremely annoying to deal with and he’ll piss everyone off because I’m sure he’s a LiKeAbLe kid and what not. That said, he’s very good, Bama is very good, and there’s likely not anyone in the league who can challenge them yet.
  2. The other playoff hopefuls in the SEC have some catching up to do. While Georgia’s defense was fantastic, pitching one of the best performances we’ve seen in quite some time, their season is destined to end with another loss to the Tide if they don’t get something going offensively. They were held to 256 yards in the win over Clemson, with just a field goal to show for actual offensive output. They don’t play Alabama until the two presumably meet in Atlanta, so this is shaping up to be one heck of a downfall if they get to 12-0 with nothing to show. Texas A&M won’t be able to challenge either team with a quarterback giving the ball away at such a rapid pace. He’ll be responsible for a loss aside from Alabama on October 9th.
  3. LSU’s schedule shapes up this way: McNeese, CMU, Mississippi State. Then they get Auburn at home. They’ll undoubtedly be 2-1 when SEC play begins in Starkville, but after that it may be time to start the Ed O watch. If we can break the Baton Rouge curse, then they’ll have a streak where they’re 3-2 at best and have @ Kentucky, Florida, @ Ole Miss, and @ Alabama. They may not get a win, and certainly won’t be favored to do better than 1-3 during that month. Can Ed O survive a losing season? We may be witnesses to the ship taking on too much water.

THINGS TO WATCH IN WEEK 2

  1. We get our first SEC game this week, as Missouri and Kentucky square off. I honestly have no idea what we’ll learn from this one, as Auburn doesn’t play either team this season, but I guess it’s good for the conference to figure out whose Week 1 result was a fluke and whose wasn’t.
  2. Without the Week 1 marquee game, it’s difficult to find something really exciting within the conference. That’s why these sleepy weeks usually getcha. We’ll have someone locked in a tight game with a rent-a-win team in the second half. We’ll get a big injury. We’ll have an outright upset. Don’t stray too too far away from the TV, because you’ll get that alert at some point that something’s going on.
  3. We will find out more about Arkansas with Texas coming to Fayetteville, and we’ll definitely know more with Tennessee hosting Pitt. Mississippi State also gets to welcome NC State to town, and those three games have the SEC team as an underdog. Here’s a fairly good opportunity to see how mid-level conference teams match up across other leagues.
  4. LSU plays McNeese State, where Ed Orgeron’s son Cody is the starting quarterback. Playing at home in front of a (fully-vaccinated) crowd hungry for something positive, Ed O may be forced to call all-out blitzes just to give the frothing fans something to cheer. Cody won’t be happy.

We’re off and running, folks.



from College and Magnolia - All Posts https://www.collegeandmagnolia.com/2021/9/8/22662385/sec-recap-week-1-sissies-and-snooze-buttons

No comments:

Post a Comment