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All offseason, there were lists and rankings of how the season would play out, but the first rubber hit the road last week when everything counted.
Based on what happened then, here is Week 2’s version of players and units who are overrated, underrated or properly rated:
Overrated
Vanderbilt receivers: Many wondered how Ralph Webb’s role would be expanded in the Vanderbilt offense, but with plenty of chatter about an upgrade to the Commodores’ passing game behind Kyle Shurmur, Trent Sherfield and C.J. Duncan, it didn’t materialize in the opener.
And it wasn’t like they faced a stellar defense, especially on the back end. While the Gamecocks’ front seven had potential entering the season, the secondary was viewed as anywhere from a question mark to a weakness. But Vanderbilt’s receivers were held to just three catches. Duncan had two for 24 yards, and Kalija Lipscomb had one. Webb, the star running back, led the team with three.
Kentucky defense: There might not have been a bigger letdown across the SEC than Kentucky’s defensive performance late against Southern Miss. With a defensive background, Mark Stoops was understandably going to take more scrutiny, especially in his fourth year, but giving up 34 unanswered points and blowing a 25-point lead is alarming to say the least. The performance compounded a disturbing trend during the Stoops era, and had a shocking 96 plays allowed to the Golden Eagles. The basis of Stoops’ hire on defensive principles has already been called into question.
LSU’s offensive tweaks: Les Miles said in the offseason that the Tigers would tweak their offense and take better advantage of Travin Dural and Malachi Dupre. They combined for 74 yards receiving in the Tigers’ opening loss to Wisconsin.
Underrated
Brian Herrien: Even with an injured Sony Michel, Georgia has no shortage of backup running backs, starting with Brendan Douglas and Elijah Holyfield. But with Holyfield recovering from an ankle injury, and a fumble by Douglas, Herrien took full advantage of his seven carries and turned them into 59 yards and a touchdown — an 8.4 yard average. Given the injury history at that position, and Herrien’s early performance, look for the true freshman to stay in the rotation moving forward.
Rawleigh Williams III: Despite returning from a neck injury suffered against Auburn last season, and running behind three new offensive linemen, the Arkansas running back rattled off 96 rushing yards and a touchdown on 24 carries. Williams ran for 39 yards on the game-winning drive, and had carries on six of the first seven plays.
Properly rated
Jonah Williams: Just the second true freshman to start at offensive tackle for Alabama under Nick Saban, Williams was named the SEC Freshman of the Week after two knockdown blocks and an 85 percent blocking grade at right tackle. A key block came in the first half that helped lead Damien Harris to a 46-yard run.
Alabama’s defense: Not long after the confetti fell in January, analysts already were suggesting that the 2016 version would be as good and possibly better than the 2015 version, even after all of the NFL departures. It’s hard to argue after the Tide kept a ranked USC team out of the end zone and limited the Trojans to just 194 total yards.
Jabari Zuniga: The redshirt freshman defensive lineman had two second-half sacks for the Gators to go with four total tackles. He was among the bright spots from a Florida defense that held UMass to 187 yards, 12 first downs and just one third down conversion. Zuniga has the potential to be a leader on a defensive front that held the Minutemen to 46 yards on 35 carries.
A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.
