Week 1 Brain Droppings

Coming at you like the "SS Enterprise" at a Jayhawk's mouth, it's the week 1 edition of Brain Droppings.

Let's see just hope this edition of my weekly musings doesn't end up with me giving an apology about how this whole article was meant to be about college football but ended up being a veiled attempt at vulgarity.

(1) Ohio State -

This is literally the only play I saw from last night's game as I was driving home from my Labor Day festivities. I cut the game on and saw this. Then I turned it off and went to bed. Apparently, the Hokies were winning at halftime? Oops.

Ohio State's schedule is cupcake city until they see Sparty later in the year. I think it's safe to see we'll be seeing a lot of plays like this so I doubt I'll talk about them too much barring an upset or some other news.

BTW, a spin move like this rarely even works for me in a game of Madden. Just imagine if this kid hadn't "wasted" three years playing QB,

(2) What Happened?

Everyone was focused on Jim Harbaugh's debut on Thursday night as the head coach at Michigan and I get it. He was a highly successful college coach who went on to be a pretty successful pro coach who has taken over at his alma mater, which hasn't been itself for a few years. But that game went about how I expected. Harbaugh will get his ducks in a row but it will take time.

The real story to me is how his old school, Stanford, has dropped off since his departure. After sustaining a level of success for the first couple of years after Harbaugh left, the Cardinal dropped their opener on Saturday to Northwestern. Now I like Pat Fitzgerald as the coach of Northwestern but let's not confuse them with some powerhouse team. They are an average Big 10 squad, which these days means they could be a below average team.

Stanford, up until last year, had a pretty successful run. But there is no Andrew Luck on the squad this year and the running game wasn't as strong. Keep in mind the PAC 12 South is loaded this year. What happens if the Stanford Slide continues? Just something to keep an eye on.

In similar news, James Franklin proved that a coach matters when he led Vandy to back-to-back 9 wins seasons (Just look at them now). But how does a team with a QB that many rate as one of the nation's best NFL prospects, lose to Temple. That's right. The Owls quietly beat Franklin's Nittany Lions the other day. The good news for Coach Humpty Hump is that they play in the Big 10. But I guess they better watch out for Northwestern

 

(3) QB Battles - I'll go out on a limb here and say Texas A&M made the right call. Meanwhile, in Oxford, my guess is Chad Kelly will be firmly implanted at Ole Miss until his next arrest. We still have no idea about LSU. While Pharaoh Cooper might be the best choice at Carolina as he is the most talented person on the team, he needs to play WR and occasionally line up for direct snaps. Florida played New Mexico State but all QBs looked solid anyways. Greyson Lambert was efficient. Vanderbilt's offense is going to stink no matter what. Coker looked to be sharp against a decent opponent on a big stage.

 

So while some decisions have been solidified, there are still questions about others. Week 2 will help shake things out around the SEC.



(4) Revenge - Despite not being ranked in the preseason polls, Mother Natur,e wreaked havoc on the SEC slate. She defeated both #9 UGA, stifled #25 Tennessee, and #13 was too afraid to take the field against her. And rightfully so, did y'all see this?

 

 

Sure Ohio State looked good last night but Mother Nature will now be ranked #1 in my poll as she showed who was really boss on Saturday. I'll be at the UGA-Vandy tilt on Saturday and I hope she doesn't decide to follow the Dawgs around.

 

(5) SEC Power Rankings

 

1.  Mother Nature (see above)

 

2. Texas A&M - Best win of the weekend by any team. I don't expect them to stay in this lofty position, but a lot of respect for soundly defeating a team many thought could be a dark horse playoff contender.

 

3. Alabama - No surprise. Wisconsin couldn't match up with Alabama's defense and the Tide Rolled. Highly anticipating a week 3 match up with Ole Miss

 

4. Auburn - I would be concerned as an Auburn fan. The defense looked good for 3 quarters but then a mad rush by Louisville gave them a chance at the end. More disconcerting was Jeremy Johnson's decision making. Auburn is really good but can't overcome those kinds of turnovers consistently. No one can.

 

5. Georgia - I would've liked to have seen a complete performance by their defense and I would have liked to see them throw the ball a little more. But I get it. They certainly were far from perfect but Sony Michel, Keith Marshall, and Tony Godwin all impressed. We already knew what Nick Chubb could do.

 

6.Arkansas - Threw the ball more than they needed but showed they could do so. At least against a bad team.

 

7. Tennessee - The Vols beat an underrated team on Saturday. Alvin Kamara stole the show for me on offense. The combination of he and Jalen Hurd will be a force to be reckoned with. I know I'm in the minority but I'm still not 100% sold on Joshua Dobbs against top-tier talent. But with all the talent around him, it'll be hard to not succeed. Their secondary and pass rush were nowhere to be found though and that's a concern.

 

8. Ole Miss - I get it. They played some team called UT-Martin. But they answered questions. Chad Kelly seems to be the guy at QB. Their defense looked stout. They let Robert Nkemdiche play some offense. They flexed their muscle. It's what they were supposed to do.

 

9. LSU - I still don't know anything about the Tigers because their game got cancelled. So they go in the middle.

 

10. South Carolina - I don't know if they'll stay this high but they did beat a Power 5 team that was supposed to be ok. Larry Fedora should've been fired after some really poor decisions to end that game. But South Carolina did enough. Their defense looked improved but there's still a long way to go.

 

11. Mississippi State - They weren't overly impressive against Southern Miss and that could spell trouble. Of course, I have no idea why they opened in Hattiesburg. Dak Prescott is uber-talented but I don't know if that's enough. A game against LSU this week will tell us a lot.

 

12. Mizzou - This may be underrating their performance a little. But Maty Mauk is still prone to make poor decisions and I don't think they can overcome it if he does that all year.

 

13. Florida - The jury is still out. Their QBs looked really good. They put up points. Their defense was solid. But they played New Mexico State. We'll see.

 

14. Kentucky - Poised to beat the crap out of a team and flex their muscle, UK went from big lead to barely hanging on against the Ragin Cajuns. That spells trouble.

 

15. Vanderbilt - Ugly. Their offense is atrocious. Their defense actually impressed against a team known for scoring. The problem is Derek Mason isn't their defensive coordinator. He's their head coach.

 

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