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Remember all that talk about the SEC having taken a step back and no longer being the most preeminent conference in the land? Yeah, well, neither do I.
The conference sent a statement in the first weekend of games that it is still the undisputed king of college football with impressive wins by the likes of Alabama, Texas A&M and Auburn. Georgia looked like legitimate national contenders as well.
But here are a few burning questions in the SEC following Week 1:
1. Alabama: Does it really matter who is under center for the Crimson Tide when coach Nick Saban’s team runs the ball and plays the kind of bruising defense it did during Saturday’s 35-17 win over Wisconsin? The 20th-ranked Badgers have long been known to be a physical bunch, but were outclassed at Dallas’ AT&T Stadium.
2. Arkansas: What can Brandon Allen do to top Saturday’s dazzling performance? The fifth-year quarterback completed 14 of 18 passes for career-high 308 yards to pace the Razorbacks to a 48-13 thumping of Texas-El Paso. Allen matched a career best with his four touchdown passes and did so without throwing an interception or suffering a sack.
3. Auburn: Was quarterback Jeremy Johnson vastly overrated or was it just a bad game? The junior quarterback and subject of much offseason fanfare threw three interceptions while completing just 11 of 21 passes for 137 yards and a touchdown in the Tigers’ 31-24 win over Louisville on Saturday. Johnson, who was making just his third career start, consistently threw into double and triple coverages. He telegraphed other passes and was lucky to only have three picks.
4. Florida: Could new coach Jim McElwain possibly go with two quarterbacks for the rest of the season? There’s certainly a chance after Treon Harris and Will Grier lit up the New Mexico State defense to fuel a 61-13 pasting at The Swamp on Saturday night. The two combined to go 29 for 36 with 379 yards and four touchdown passes without an interception while spreading the ball to 14 different Gator receivers. Grier added a rushing score, but fumbled once.
5. Georgia: Did QB Greyson Lambert secure the starting job with performance against Louisiana-Monroe? Not yet, but the Virginia graduate transfer may have taken a step closer after completing eight of 12 passes for 141 yards and two touchdowns Saturday’s weather-shortened 51-14 win over ULM. Lambert appeared poised and avoided costly mistakes, but has not fully won over coach Mark Richt. Lambert will again get the starting nod at Vanderbilt this week, but will have to again play well because Brice Ramsey is never far off.
6. Kentucky: Can we still say this Kentucky team is really improved after it struggled to beat Louisiana-Lafayette? The Wildcats lost their final six games of the 2014 season and could have completely collapsed again after blowing a 23-point third-quarter lead against the visiting Ragin’ Cajuns on Saturday. The fact that they didn’t and, instead, rallied late for a 40-33 victory speaks to the change in culture in Lexington.
7. LSU: Could the weather-related cancellation of Saturday night’s game against McNeese State adversely affect the Tigers’ chances of reaching the College Football Playoff later in the season? The answer is possibly. LSU will still need to win six of its remaining 11 games to become bowl eligible, but problems could arise if the playoff committee is forced to choose between a potential 11-win Tigers team and a 12-win team also making its case. You can bet the playoff committee doesn’t want anything to do with that headache.
8. Ole Miss: Could stud defensive end Robert Nkemdiche become a regular on offense after his 31-yard touchdown catch in Mississippi’s 76-3 pasting of Tennessee-Martin? That’s doubtful because Nkemdiche, a former high school running back, is too valuable a commodity on defense to risk to injury. Coach Hugh Freeze and Nkemdiche came up with the play because it was the first time Nkemdiche’s mother was in attendance. It was the first time she had seen her son play in person in more than a year and both Freeze and Nkemdiche wanted to do something special for her.
9. Mississippi State: Will Mississippi State have an advantage in this week’s pivotal SEC West showdown with LSU because the Tigers have yet to play a game? It could make a difference because LSU is breaking in quarterback in Brandon Harris and any extra reps he could have received before heading to Starkville would have helped. But the Bulldogs didn’t exactly look like world-beaters either in their 34-16 win at Southern Mississippi on Saturday night.
10. Missouri: How will the Tigers defense look without 2014 SEC Defensive Player of the Year Shane Ray? Pretty good, if Saturday’s 34-3 win over Southeast Missouri is any indication. Senior weakside linebacker Kentrell Brothers, the leading returning tackler in the SEC, logged a career-high 16 tackles, including 1.5 stops for loss, as the Tigers limited SEMO to 201 yards of total offense, including a meager 46 in the second half.
11. South Carolina: How long of a leash does QB Connor Mitch have before coach Steve Spurrier makes a change? The Head Ball Coach has reiterated that Mitch is his guy, but that could quickly change with another shaky performance like the one Mitch had against North Carolina on Thursday night in which he went nine of 22 effort for 122 yards and touchdown. Spurrier has a long history of limited patience with his quarterbacks and is all too aware that much more imposing SEC defenses await, especially at Georgia on Sept. 19. Mitch had best get better or be prepared to get the hook.
12. Tennessee: Should Vols fans be concerned with their defense after surrendering 557 yards of total offense and 30 points to Bowling Green on Saturday? Very much so because a young secondary that was blitzed by the Falcons for 433 yards through the air will certainly have their hands full against a considerably more potent Oklahoma passing attack this coming Saturday night in Knoxville.
13. Texas A&M: How much of an immediate difference has John Chavis made as the team’s new defensive coordinator? The Aggies defense looked completely from a year ago in Saturday’s upset at 15th-ranked Arizona State. Their nine sacks were the most by an A&M defense in 20 years, while the unit’s 14 tackles for loss came from seven different players. A trendy preseason pick by some to win the Pac-12 conference, Arizona State managed just 291 yards of total offense.
14. Vanderbilt: Will Vanderbilt remain offensively challenged again? Most likely, unless coach Derek Mason and new offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig can somehow comb the student rec centers and find a diamond in the rough somewhere. The Commodores have yet to find a reliable quarterback and are lacking in playmakers even if they had one. Quarterback Johnny McCrary’s poor decision-making in Thursday’s 14-12 loss to Western Kentucky led to a pair of drive-killing interceptions in the end zone that Vandy wasn’t good enough to overcome.
John Hollis is a contributing writer for Saturday Down South. He covers Georgia and Florida.
