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Week 1 wasn’t the easiest on the eyes for the old, powerful SEC.
In 1995, six SEC teams lost in the opening week. This was worse: seven lost, including Ole Miss, which led FSU 28-6 Monday night before falling 45-34 in stunning fashion to complete Week 1.
7 SEC teams lost their season openers for the 1st time since 1992. pic.twitter.com/tkcZOmfuxg
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) September 6, 2016
But it wasn’t all bad. The newest version of the Crimson Tide turned up the heat, yet again. Nick Chubb showed he was feeling just fine. And Texas A&M revealed its supreme resilience.
Now everyone’s played a game. No more jitters, at least you would hope. Time for a fresh slate of storylines for Week 2, with all 12 games involving SEC teams on Saturday this time and all but one on campus, with the only neutral-site novelty taking place at Bristol Motor Speedway of all places.
Here we go:
Nicholls State at Georgia, noon: The aforementioned Chubb showed North Carolina and the nation he was fully recovered from last year’s horrific injury and, as a bonus, Jacob Eason entered the fray and helped direct a rousing season-opening win. Nicholls State of the Southland Conference will present little challenge, we know this.
So the challenge for Georgia will be simple: Do the Bulldogs slack off after such an emotional win or do they still play angry and determined in the home opener and get better as a team through what is likely to be a big-time rout? It’ll be the game within the game for Kirby Smart.
Prairie View A&M at Texas A&M, noon: The only thing these programs have in common is the A&M designation. Like Georgia, the Aggies will be coming off a huge high after outlasting UCLA in overtime on national TV in College Station. A week later, that spotlight will be gone, so Kevin Sumlin, like Smart, has to be make sure his guys’ spirits aren’t gone against a program that once lost 80 games in a row between 1989-98.
But hold on: The Panthers went 8-2 last year, 8-1 in the SWAC and won their last six games. They led the nation in scoring, averaging an astounding 44.9 points per game. And they are predicted to win the SWAC’s Western Division this season behind returning star quarterback Trey Green and 10 returning defensive players who were at least semi-regular starters.
In other words, the Aggies better have their feet back on the ground and their eyes focused on the sneaky, small-conference program with the new winning tradition.
Western Kentucky at Alabama, 3:30 p.m.: The Crimson Tide passed their opening test with the greatest of ease, putting 52 on USC, and the home opener against the Hilltoppers should be an exercise in dominance that’ll have the starters sitting by the third quarter.
So something to actually watch for is how Nick Saban uses his quarterbacks after freshman Jalen Hurts’ coming-out party against the Trojans. Will Hurts get the start now? Or will it be Cooper Bateman or Blake Barnett? Will all three get a trial period during this game, like an NFL team spreads its quarterbacks out by quarter during a preseason game? The quarterback breakdown will be critical to figure out for Bama, with a trip to Ole Miss looming in Week 3.
Kentucky at Florida, 3:30 p.m.: While the Wildcats were allowing 44 points at home against Southern Mississippi, including an unheard of 27-0 whitewash in the second half, the Gators were struggling to put up 24 points at home against Massachusetts. Florida survived and got the season-opening win. All Kentucky got was a season-opening slap in the face.
That sets up this dynamic in the national TV afternoon game in Gainesville: Will Luke Del Rio and the Gators, a team with SEC title aspirations, be able to move the ball and put up 30-35 points against a shaky-at-best Wildcats defense? Doing that would provide just the confidence this offense needs, and likely extend what is a 29-game winning streak in the series. Not doing it would provide just another red flag, to go with the one from Week 1.
Wofford at Ole Miss, 4 p.m.: The Rebels face a very short week as they journey back from Orlando to Oxford for their home opener against the Terriers of the Southern Conference. Ole Miss should roll to victory in this one. It doesn’t take a football scientist to figure that out, but the storyline here is health.
With Ole Miss playing less than five days after the slugfest with the Seminoles, a brutal turnaround for an NFL team let alone college-aged players, will the Rebels be able to avoid a serious injury or injuries to key players? Because after the warmup against Wofford, Alabama comes to Oxford for a showdown that will begin to shape the SEC West for 2016.
So maximum health, along with the expected blowout win, is what the Rebels really need coming out of Week 2.
Middle Tennessee at Vanderbilt, 4 p.m.: The Commodores were offensively challenged, as feared, in their agonizing Week 1 home loss to South Carolina. So now the narrative moves to this in Week 2: Can Vandy avoid the dreaded 0-2 record and start feeling better about itself?
In order to do that, it better put up more than the 10 points it managed against the Gamecocks. It was embarrassing, and now Middle Tennessee of Conference USA comes to Nashville with a high-powered offense led by Brent Stockstill, who threw for 329 yards and five touchdowns in the first half alone in a 55-0 Week 1 blowout of Alabama A&M.
Stockstill made the Davey O’Brien Watch List this year but will face a Vandy pass defense that allowed just 187 yards through the air in the South Carolina loss.
Arkansas at TCU, 7 p.m.: TCU acted like TCU in Week 1, putting up a staggering 59 points against South Dakota State … while allowing 41. Meanwhile, the Razorbacks escaped with a one-point win by a far more normal score of 21-20 over Louisiana Tech.
Can Austin Allen and Arkansas’ offense do better than 21 points? Yes. Can it possibly win a TCU-type shootout, on the road and in primetime? Absolutely not. So this one is on the Razorbacks defense, which will have possibly its greatest challenge of the season in a big, underdog situation.
Either the Hogs make this one ugly or it will get ugly in Fort Worth.
South Carolina at Mississippi State, 7 p.m.: The Gamecocks won their opener on a late field goal by star Elliott Fry, while the Bulldogs lost their opener when Westin Graves missed a 28-yard chip shot off the upright in the final seconds. Immediately, both teams saw the value of having a dependable kicker, especially when you have little margin for error like these two teams do.
South Carolina won its opener with only 13 points. Mississippi State only gave up 21 and lost. So we’re probably looking at another defensive struggle, which puts at a premium … the kicker. The Gamecocks also have a chance to do something very rare: go 2-0 with both wins being road conference victories.
Jacksonville State at LSU, 7:30 p.m.: The poor Gamecocks of the Ohio Valley Conference have the misfortune of going into Death Valley with LSU coming off as brutal a season-opening loss as you could imagine. The Tigers will surely wallop Jacksonville State under the lights in their home opener, but the thing to watch is what kind of attitude Les Miles’ team brings.
Do they feel sorry for themselves and win big but not impressively? Or do the Tigers come out and treat this game like it’s the first victory of a long list as they try to run the table and get back in the national title picture? Can the Tigers’ solve their passing game woes? Another thing to watch is Leonard Fournette, who rushed for 138 yards in the Wisconsin loss but was banged up again after his final carry.
Of course, if all goes according to plan Fournette won’t be playing a whole lot on Saturday night.
Arkansas State at Auburn, 7:30 p.m.: This one will be all about attitude, too. Auburn, for all its warts and faults, was a bounce from knocking off Clemson last Saturday night. Gus Malzahn’s team hung in there, showed grit and made life pretty miserable for the great Deshaun Watson.
But still, it was a loss, and the Tigers’ record says 0-1 as it tries to regroup against a pretty angry Red Wolves team that was blown out 31-10 at home against Toledo. The Rockets put up 556 yards against Arkansas State, so maybe this is a game where Auburn’s offense can get going after only mustering 13 points against Clemson.
If Auburn suffers an emotional letdown though, its record could be 0-2, because despite its opening loss Arkansas State is projected to go to a bowl game after winning the Sun Belt title last year.
Eastern Michigan at Missouri, 7:30 p.m.: The themes of Week 2 for the Tigers are recovery and discovery. The home opener against the beatable Eagles of the Mid-American Conference should provide a stage for Missouri to recover from a listless 26-11 loss at West Virginia. But to recover, the Tigers must discover Josh Heupel’s right offensive blend.
A win over Eastern Michigan isn’t going to feel quite right unless Drew Lock gets in gear. He threw it an alarming 51 times in Morgantown and had only 11 points to show for it. The Tigers’ lone touchdown didn’t come until the fourth quarter, when the outcome was decided.
Virginia Tech at Tennessee, 8 p.m.: The national, primetime spotlight shines on the Vols in the Battle at Bristol, as venerable Bristol Motor Speedway is the backdrop. Tennessee is the designated home team, by the way, but that hardly means the Vols will feel at home, at least not at first, and that’s the issue in this game: How long will it take Tennessee, after such a sloppy opener, to get in an offensive rhythm in a scene that could be both outstanding and overwhelming?
There will be so many sideshows going on at Bristol on Saturday night, so the key for the Vols, ironically, will be to not go too fast at the speedway. It needs to be steady and strong for Tennessee against a program that knows all about playing on big stages, if not at auto racing tracks. The opening-night stage at Neyland Stadium clearly got to the Vols, and this will be another adjustment.
If the Vols are really as good as most thought all offseason, they’ll finally gain traction at their home state’s famous track.
Cory Nightingale, a sports copy editor at the Miami Herald, lives for Saturdays. He especially enjoys the pageantry, tradition and history of SEC football.
