OK, week 1 is in the books. As stated earlier, the first week in CFB has become a great spectacle with big time match-ups and a lot of pomp and circumstance. Week two takes a bit of a dive but there's still some games worth keeping an eye. Brian and I will get to those later in the week along with the Bear and Lord McFather. As for now, let's concentrate on the week that was:
1) Thuds - Some teams had a hard time getting out of the starting gates in week one against opponents they figured to beat. The worst of these had to be Vanderbilt on Thursday night. After a two hour weather delay, Vandy looked as if they wanted to be anywhere but in Nashville and got drubbed by Temple by 30 points. Too early to know if James Franklin was that big of a difference but with Penn State's win against favored UCF in Ireland on Saturday morning made Vandy long for the days of yore (2011-2013). South Carolina also struggled at home against a team they were favored to handle but the truth is A&M might be at the point where it just reloads under Kevin Sumlin. I admit I drank the HBC's kool-aid and thought the Gamecocks would win going away but the Aggies unleashed a beat down of the home team. What I noticed most was the Aggie's dominance of the lines, especially on offense. The QB had all day to throw and the RBs had lanes to run in. If UGAs line can do the same in two weeks, USC could be off to an 0-2 hole in the SEC. Bama, UCLA, and FSU played closer games than the experts predicted. That doesn't mean these teams are bad, it just means they unexpectedly struggled to dispatch teams people thought they were capable of beating. Next week may be a whole new story for all of them.
2) Studs - Were there two bigger studs this weekend than Todd Gurley of UGA and Kenny Hill of Texas A&M? Hard to imagine. Todd Gurley just broke another long run against Clemson. The man touched the ball 16 times. He scored 4 TDs and averaged over 18.5 yards a touch. That's ridiculous for a RB. What if the Dawgs had given him the ball more? Well, we might not have gotten to see the stable of RBs UGA has stockpiled. When they get Malcolm Mitchell and Justin Scott Wesley back to stretch the field as receiver, this offense is just going to be flat out tough to stop. Kenny Hill surpassed Johnny Football in the record books and won on the road against a Top 10 team in his first ever start. He had all day to throw, but made all the right decisions and butchered what many thought would be a very good South Carolina defense with over 500 yards passing. Brian and I both mentioned Kevin Sumlin as a good coach in our picks last week and then took the HBC for the win. Looks like Kevin Sumlin has A&M on the fast track. How dumb does Texas look these days for turning down possible SEC overtures over the years? A&M looks like the new power in the Longhorn State.
3) Playoffs - I've seen a lot of pundits go ahead and put out their top 4 teams for the inaugural playoff and I'll be doing the same every week. However, unlike most pundits, I just don't believe one conference is going to get two teams in. As much as I think both A&M and UGA deserve to be in the Top 4, it ain't gonna happen; doesn't matter how good the SEC is or isn't. My top 4 after week one are:
1) FSU - They struggled but got a win against a good OK State team. They'll get everyone's best shot this year. They better be ready.
2) Texas A&M - As impressive as UGA was, they played at home and beat a team that was ranked lower than South Carolina. A&M had the most impressive win of the weekend.
3) Oklahoma - Baylor has a hurt QB but it's hard to imagine the winner of the Oklahoma/Baylor game not going undefeated. Oklahoma gets the nod this week.
4) Oregon - They looked sharp against nobody. Marcus Mariota is the reason they get the nod from the PAC-12 right now. UCLA looked pedestrian against Virginia
Next Week - Stanford and USC have an early conference match-up in the PAC-12. Ohio State tries to recover from a middling performance against Navy with what at one time could've been a very big match up but no one talks about Va Tech anymore. Maybe they can change that with a win against the Buckeyes. The biggest match-up of the week is a cross conference class between Oregon and Michigan State. It's an unstoppable offense against an immovable defense. At least, that's what it will be hyped as. The truth is neither one of these teams played anyone of note in week one so we'll find out what they have on Saturday. Regardless of the outcome, both are favored to win their conference. However a win by Michigan State will put the Spartans squarely in the playoff hunt in the watered down Big 10.
5) SEC Power Rankings - This is a Georgia based blog, so we keep it real with the SEC because that's what we know the most about. These rankings are based on what has happened on the field thus far...
14) Vanderbilt - Nothing to say about their debut except it stunk.
13) Florida - They didn't play but Vandy was so bad, they come in above them.
12) Arkansas - Valiant effort for a half but succumbed to the reigning SEC chanps on the Plains
11) South Carolina - They won't stay here but they had a really bad loss at home to open the season. If they would've played it close I could rank them higher but they got blitzed.
10) Kentucky - Big win against a horrible opponent.
9) Mizzou - Again, a big win against a bad opponent but a good start to the year.
8) Miss State - The Bulldogs were another team that feasted on a weak opponent but things are looking up in Starkvegas.
7) Alabama - A win over West Virginia two or three years ago would've merited more here but the Tide's defense struggled a little with an inferior opponent. Plenty of room for improvement.
6) Ole Miss - Defense looked great. Bo Wallace was ineffective for a three quarters and then found a rhythm. The question is how even-keeled can he get?
5) Tennessee - The Vols looked and acted like their old selves on Sunday. It was against a team that could've been trouble. It's good for the SEC if they're back.
4) Auburn - A lot of folks are high on the Tigers after a big win on The Plains. My problem was the Razorbacks were regarded as one of the worst teams in the league.
3) LSU - Good ol' Les Miles football. Three awful quarters and then 21 straight points to pull out the win. It was against a good team though, so the Bengals end up here.
2) Georgia - The Dawgs were pretty awesome in the 4th quarter against Clemson but their defense struggled for a half and we're still unsure what Hutson Mason brings to the table from a passing standpoint to be honest.
1) Texas A&M - Best performance of the weekend. Really impressive what they did against South Carolina in Columbia.
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