Greetings, BBN!
Football is back in the SEC! All 16 teams have taken the field and run off in celebration glory‒or they drove back to Tuscaloosa and Austin.
All throughout the conference, there were surprises on the opening weekend. Auburn flexed on the road against Baylor with a 14-point victory, LSU travelled to Clemson and toppled the Tigers in their Death Valley, and Alabama immediately threw their playoff expectations into jeopardy with a no-show loss at Florida State, who went just 2-10 last
season. Lots of takeaways all across the league.
Let’s take a look at the standings after Week 1:
Notes:
- The Kentucky Wildcats are 1-0 after keeping the Toledo Rockets in check for a 24-16 win on a sunny, season-opening afternoon at Kroger Field. Dante Dowdell rushed for 129 yards and a TD‒most notably a 79-yard run immediately after Toledo’s first touchdown that kept the game well in the Wildcats’ hands.
- Mississippi State had a much better opener this year than last. The Bulldogs travelled to Southern Miss for a road opener and won by two scores. A home game against #11 Arizona State awaits them next, and after that, Alcorn State and Northern Illinois. Could 4-0 before eight straight SEC games (and possibly eight straight losses) be their fate?
- Tennessee took full advantage of the Aflac Kickoff in Mercedes-Benz Stadium, using the Deep South location and its SEC pride to demolish Syracuse, which had no business agreeing to that game. What was Syracuse thinking in agreeing to this game for their opener? An instant 0-1 start thanks to jumping into an Aflac Kickoff completely outmatched and in basically a road environment.
- Texas almost got shut out in Columbus, but Arch Manning finally got a pass into the end zone with 3:28 to play, at least making it look respectable. They asked for it when they scheduled the defending champs in The Shoe. Now it’s just cupcake games till Florida in the first week of October.
- LSU was probably the biggest winner in the SEC in Week 1. The Tigers beat the Tigers in Death Valley (very confusing, right?) and backed up the preseason CFP talk. Now that they have this win, they just need to manage their SEC schedule and at 11-1 or 10-2 it’ll likely be really hard to leave them out come December. They luck out in that their schedule avoids both Georgia and Texas.
- Another big road winner won in Waco on Friday, as Auburn began its season with a 38-24 win over the Baylor Bears to set themselves up nicely for a potential 3-0 start. After missing a bowl last season, the Tigers look ready to right the ship this season. Of course, there’s still a very long way to go, and it’s still very early.
