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The haters had a field day on Saturday, as bashing the high-fallutin’ SEC become en vogue around the nation.
One week after thumping its chest by placing a record 10 teams in the Associated Press Top 25, the SEC came crashing back to reality with forgettable weekend that included disappointing losses by Arkansas and Tennessee and near-misses by Auburn, Georgia, Florida and Missouri against lesser opponents.
The truth is the SEC is not as good as it appeared week ago, nor is it as suspect as it looked on Saturday. Somewhere in between is the answer, but we’ll have to see more football to gauge just where that is.
In the meantime, here’s a look at some burning questions around the SEC:
1. Alabama: Crimson Tide quarterbacks Jake Coker and Cooper Bateman both struggled in their team’s 37-10 win over Middle Tennessee State. Can they get markedly better in time for this week’s pivotal SEC West showdown against a surging Ole Miss team?
2. Arkansas: What happened to a once-powerful Razorbacks ground game? The Hogs managed just 103 yards rushing in Saturday’s shocking 16-12 loss to Toledo, with nearly a fifth of those yards (21) coming as a result of three scrambles by quarterback Brandon Allen.
3. Auburn: Why was this team ever so regarded by so many people in the offseason? The Tigers might be the worst 2-0 team ever, needing overtime on Saturday just to escape Football Championship Subdivision foe and 47-point underdog Jacksonville State, 27-20. The defense leaks like a sieve and quarterback Jeremy Johnson continues to look in way over his head with his poor decisions and penchant for interceptions. He has five after two games and is very lucky that total isn’t higher.
4. Florida: Has Will Grier won the starting quarterback job for the Gators? Maybe, maybe not. Grier appeared to have taken the inside track by virtue of the extended play he was getting in Florida’s 31-24 win over East Carolina, but several poor decisions may have opened the door for Treon Harris to continue making it a competition for at least another week longer.
5. Georgia: Will Georgia’s struggles in the passing game come back to haunt the Bulldogs? Eventually, it will and that time could come as soon as in Saturday’s SEC matchup with South Carolina. The Gamecocks have a solid rush defense, so Bulldogs quarterback Greyson Lambert is going to have to get better to keep South Carolina from keying on Nick Chubb. Lambert misfired on his first seven passes and didn’t complete his first attempt until the third quarter of Saturday’s 31-14 win at Vanderbilt.
6. Kentucky: Can the Wildcats finally end their futility at the hands of the Gators? It’s definitely a possibility as UK’s 26-22 win at South Carolina on Saturday night indicated. The Gators have won the last 28 meetings against the Cats and 34 of the previous 35. UK last beat Florida, 10-3, back on Nov. 15, 1986.
7. LSU: Is LSU the team to beat in the SEC West? It looks that way after early indications. The Tigers escaped Mississippi State with a 21-19 win Saturday night, and that’s no small feat. Sophomore tailback Leonard Fournette rushed for a career-high 159 yards and added three touchdowns for LSU.
8. Ole Miss: Can the Rebels sustain these video game-like offensive numbers? It’s been impressive watching Ole Miss roll up 149 points and 1,271 yards of total offense the last two weeks, but the cupcake part of the schedule is over. A challenging road trip to Tuscaloosa to face Alabama awaits this week.
9. Mississippi State: Are the Bulldogs out of contention in the SEC West? By no means does a tough loss to LSU in Week 2 disqualify any team from consideration, although it will make things more challenging.
10. Missouri: Is QB Maty Mauk still struggling with accuracy issues this year? It appears that way. Mauk completed just 16 of 36 passes for 148 yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions in the Tigers’ narrow 27-20 win over Arkansas State on Saturday. In two games, Mauk has completed just better than 48 percent of his attempts (28 of 58) with three interceptions and five touchdown passes.
11. South Carolina: Will Perry Orth at quarterback be enough to jumpstart a struggling Gamecocks offense? Orth took over against Kentucky on Saturday after starter Connor Mitch suffered a separated shoulder that could keep him out the rest of the year. But it won’t matter who’s under center if South Carolina can’t manage better than one touchdown in five red zone trips like it did on Saturday night.
12. Tennessee: Will poor play in the defensive secondary continue to be a problem for the Vols? The young defensive did better statistically than a week earlier by allowing Oklahoma just 187 yards passing, but they again lost key receivers at critical times down the stretch to allow the Sooners to erase a 17-0 lead and escape Neyland Stadium with a 31-24 overtime win.
13. Texas A&M: Are the Aggies for real? With so many new faces, it was easy to overlook Texas A&M, but coach Kevin Sumlin’s team might be the most complete squad in the SEC right now. We really won’t find out more about the Aggies until they open conference play by against Arkansas on Sept. 26.
14. Vanderbilt: Will the Commodores ever win another SEC game? Eventually, but there’s a good chance it won’t be this year if recent play is any indication. Vandy went winless (0-8) in conference play in 2014 and hasn’t won a league game since beating Tennessee, 14-10, back on Nov. 23, 2013. Saturday’s 31-14 setback to Georgia was the Commodores’ latest SEC loss.
John Hollis is a contributing writer for Saturday Down South. He covers Georgia and Florida.
