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Overreacting to everything I saw.
College Football

10 things I’m absolutely overreacting to after Week 2 in the SEC

Chris Wright

By Chris Wright

Published:

Texas football, pride of the SEC.

Fun times, these are.

Kind of like playing quarterback for Georgia in general. Or Florida (on Saturday, at least, but, you know, Billy’s Gonna Billy).

If only times were that fun for Mark Stoops, Notre Dame and Coach Prime.

Those are just some of the 10 things I’m absolutely overreacting to after a wild Week 2 in and around the SEC.

10. Sure, you love Texas now … Just wait

For 2 decades, SEC fans have loved to mock Texas.

From Horns Down to Texas is back … the Longhorns typically provided enough fodder to keep the haters happy.

Saturday, the Longhorns represented the SEC in a showdown game at No. 10 Michigan.

SEC fans probably didn’t care so much about the specifics of what Texas did, so long as Texas didn’t do anything silly or stupid, like sully the SEC’s fine name.

No worries there.

With all apologies to rookie analyst Nick Saban, Texas, indeed, looked like a team that could run the SEC. The Longhorns absolutely dominated Michigan. The final score — 31-12 — easily covered the spread and could have 42-12.

Let’s just get it out of the way: The most-watched regular season game of the season won’t be the Iron Bowl or Cocktail Party. It won’t the Red River Showdown or even Georgia’s visit to Alabama in Week 5.

It’s going to be in Week 8, when presumably undefeated Georgia travels to presumably undefeated Texas. The get-in prices already are approaching $400, which is noteworthy considering all the noise about how the expanded Playoff was going to kill the regular season.

And if Texas wins that game?

The Longhorns haven’t been No. 1 in the country since October of 2008.

And if you thought Texas fans overstated their worth before, well, prepare yourself for unmatched levels of obnoxiousness. And more of this …

9. Notre Dame just gave at-large hopefuls everywhere a gift

Every year, Notre Dame is the ultimate Playoff wild-card. Twice, the Irish made it to the 4-team field at the expense of other power conference programs.

The Playoff route seemed even easier with the expanded 12-team field, which will include 7 at-large teams.

That route closed Saturday with a disastrous home loss to Northern Illinois. A game in which the Irish — favored by 28.5 points — were held to 14 points and fewer than 300 total yards.

Why is it over in Week 2?

Let’s start with the obvious: Does this team look capable of reeling off 10 consecutive wins and getting to 11-1? Hardly. Quarterback Riley Leonard still hasn’t thrown a TD pass in 2 games.

Even if the Irish somehow find some luck and run the table, will it matter?

Odds are better than not that Notre Dame won’t face a team inside the top 20 at kickoff the rest of the season. The opportunities to impress are almost non-existent, and certainly will be quickly rebutted by 7 simple words. “You lost to Northern Illinois. At home.”

If the Irish were in the ACC, they’d still have a Playoff path by winning the ACC Championship.

They aren’t. So they don’t. Their continued stubbornness on that front could be the reason they miss the field.

Bottom line: Notre Dame’s loss was every power conference’s win.

8. Life comes at you fast in the SEC

Matt Jones carries a big voice in the state of Kentucky.

Just 3 weeks ago, the popular talk-show host made the case about how the Wildcats could finish 9-3 and make the expanded 12-team Playoff.

Sure, it was peak Talkin’ Season optimism on a sweltering day in August, but at least he tossed in a few caveats and qualifiers.

Saturday, reality hit in arguably the most embarrassing/discerning loss of the Mark Stoops era. (Overreacting? Kentucky was more than a TD favorite at home against South Carolina, and lost by 25. Celebrated transfer quarterback Brock Vandagriff threw for 30 yards before being yanked after tossing a pick-6.)

At least Jones took the L in stride.

The question is: How will Kentucky respond? More to the point, how will Stoops and/or the Kentucky administration respond.

Stoops spent the offseason exploring his options. He has called out boosters, all but blaming some previous losses on an inability to spend enough to compete.

There’s no denying the overall impact Stoops has made on Kentucky football.

He made people care. Now that they do, there is an expectation for more.

We could be watching the final months of the Stoops era in Lexington.

7. Not like that, Arkansas

I was so ready to heap more praise on the Hogs, until they self-imploded with a series of plays that not only derailed their upset bid at Oklahoma State but also let the air out of the developing buzz.

Vegas penciled the Hogs for 5.5 wins this season. SEC media picked them to finish 14th.

At halftime Saturday, the Hogs looked more like the 14th-best team in the country. They led 21-7. They ran at will, Taylen Green made plays through the air and the defense swarmed Ollie Gordon II, the nation’s leading returning rusher.

Bobby Petrino had all but wrapped up the Broyles Award … and the only question about Sam Pittman’s future was: Do you think they’ll extend him?

Pittman was 30 minutes from celebrating his most important victory since knocking off No. 15 Texas in 2021.

And then, everything began to unravel, 1 costly mistake after another. Penalties, missed throws, missed kicks, missed opportunity.

Credit the Hogs for overcoming adversity and fighting back for a tying field goal to force overtime — but moral victories don’t save coaches. Only actual victories do that.

When Green lost 12 yards on a sack he couldn’t afford to take in the first overtime, he turned a makeable field goal a more missable 46-yard attempt. Which Arkansas missed.

In doing so, Arkansas missed its best chance to keep all of those good vibes going. Momentum can be overrated, or it can be everything — especially for a team that still has to play 5 SEC games against ranked opponents.

6a. Blame the voters, not DJU

The internet had fun beating up DJ Uiagalelei and FSU after the Seminoles lost to Boston College on Monday and became the 4th preseason AP Top 10 team to start a season 0-2 in the past 10 seasons.

FSU has problems, but it isn’t the problem.

Where’s the accountability, the mea culpas from AP voters who were so, so wrong about the Noles? (And Michigan … and Notre Dame?)

Rece Davis voted the Noles No. 6 in his preseason ballot! So did David Jablonski, Jon Wilner, Henry Greenstein and Randy Johnson (presumably not the Hall of Fame pitcher, though some of his fastballs were just as far off the mark).

They were the most optimistic, but they were hardly alone. This was FSU’s vote total at each spot in the top 10 of the preseason poll:

  • No. 6: 5 votes
  • No. 7: 5 votes
  • No. 8: 5 votes
  • No. 9: 12 votes
  • No. 10: 10 votes.

That’s 37 of 62 AP voters who, in theory, cover college football and were convinced that FSU was 1 of the 10 best teams in the country despite ranking 83rd overall in returning production and starting over at the most important position on the field.

Don’t blame DJU or FSU for falling short of expectations. Blame the voters who put the foolishly unrealistic expectations on them.

6b. Unless …

Come on, now … Fair is fair. If you’re going to call out DJ Uiagalelei, at least tell the people who your “bad quarterback” was.

He was Garrett Gilbert and he, in fact, was not good that season. Gilbert threw 10 TD passes against 17 interceptions — including 5 in a loss at Kansas State, a game in which the Wildcats completed 2-of-4 passes for 9 yards and had 2 TD “drives” of 15 yards or less.

You can understand why Acho still sees ghosts.

5. The 5 (other) hottest QB seats in America …

  • 5. Payton Thorne, Auburn: 165 yards passing, 4 INTs. When are coaches going to realize guys are who they are?
  • 4. Conner Weigman, Texas A&M: Being better against McNeese is better than the alternative, but it isn’t the bar, either. The gap between the QB rooms at Texas and Texas A&M is as big as the state they share.
  • 3. Brock Vandagriff, Kentucky: Celebrated transfer to potential QB controversy in the span of 2 weeks is not how many saw this season going.
  • 2. Davis Warren, Michigan: His story is remarkably inspiring. On the field? As former walk-ons go, he’s no Stetson Bennett IV.
  • 1. Graham Mertz, Florida: Why? He can’t do this. DJ Lagway can.

https://twitter.com/PFF_College/status/1832562866672615721

4. The SEC’s 4 Playoff teams are …

1. Texas, 2. Georgia, 3. Ole Miss, 4. Tennessee.

I know: Alabama isn’t 1 of the 4 best teams in the SEC? Blasphemy.

Did you watch the USF game? (No, this USF game, not last year’s.) Congratulations for piling up 28 points in the 4th quarter, but … have you seen the o-line? What about the schedule? The Tide still have to play No. 1 Georgia, No. 9 Mizzou, at No. 14 Tennessee, at No. 15 Oklahoma and at No. 18 LSU, which might not have anything else to play for other than wrecking the Tide’s plans.

3. Rivalries are undefeated …

Buckeye Nation got its wish, and America was only too happy to pile on.

https://twitter.com/dannykanell/status/1832474721201406295

2. Speaking of America getting its wish …

Did you see any of Colorado’s no-show at Nebraska?

It was so bad Travis Hunter and Coach Prime got into it on the sideline, and who could blame Hunter? He was all the B(l)uffs had.

How much longer will they have him before he shuts it down and starts preparing for the NFL Draft?

It’s only going to get worse and louder in Boulder.

And America can’t wait to watch it unravel.

1. A final word on Billy Napier …

I could write something every week about how far Napier is in over his head and it would be fair, timely, on point.

Frankly, I’m worn out. So until Florida makes the decision everybody knows is coming, I’ll close overreacting to all things Napier with this parting thought:

Napier’s biggest issue is either a) he doesn’t recognize how far he is in over his head, or b) he knows and continues the futile attempt to publicly save face.

Before the season, he talked about Florida being on schedule. We laughed. A C student can be “on schedule” to graduate. Then he stayed with Mertz instead of going all-in on Lagway (who went off in his first college start Saturday for 456 yards and 3 TDs).

Immediately after the Miami debacle in Week 1, he talked about “no excuses.”

Forget “excuses.” What he meant was, he had “no answers.”

This week, he doubled down and insisted that film showed the Gators were close.

Close to what? Clinching the Heisman for Cam Ward?

He didn’t willingly go with Lagway this week, either. Mertz’s concussion created an opening. Call it Tebow intervention. But what happens next week, or the week after? Obviously, Lagway should start, but … Billy. Napier told reporters immediately after Lagway’s performance that the plan remains: Mertz will start and Lagway will appear. Holy stupidity.

A coach’s job is to instill confidence, not eye rolls. Enough eyes roll, eventually a head follows.

It’s all over … except the press release.

Chris Wright
Chris Wright

Managing Editor

A 30-time APSE award-winning editor with previous stints at the Miami Herald, The Indianapolis Star and News & Observer, Executive Editor Chris Wright oversees editorial operations for Saturday Down South.

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