I was an idiot before Week 1.

I predicted things like Auburn losing to Washington and Keller Chryst starting at quarterback for Tennessee. I was young and naive.

Now that I’ve had one weekend of football-watching, I can safely say that I am no longer an idiot. I learned things. Lots of things.

For now, let’s stick with one thing I learned about every SEC team:

Alabama — Pronunciations

So I covered Alabama’s opener in Orlando, and it wasn’t Nick Saban’s handling of the quarterback situation that was the most stunning development. It wasn’t even that Tua Tagovailoa was the second coming of Steve Young. Instead, I learned about pronunciations. I learned that I had been mispronouncing Jaylen Waddle. I thought it was “Wah-del,” but apparently it just looks how it sounds. And Alabama center Ross Pierschbacher? It’s pronounced Piersch-baker. He wanted to make sure that everyone knew that.

Oh, and I learned that Alabama’s discipline needs work.

Arkansas — Ty Storey can sling it

It was an FCS defense. I repeat, it was an FCS defense. But for someone who started the game on the bench with 4 career pass attempts, one couldn’t help but be impressed with Storey. His relief of Cole Kelley — it was just an injury substitution at the time — proved to be productive. His ability to step up in the pocket and keep his eyes downfield was impressive. I’d be surprised if he wasn’t the starter on the road at Colorado State.

Auburn — It isn’t Jordan-Hare or bust

I made plenty of remarks in the preseason about how Gus Malzahn was a .500 coach away from Jordan-Hare Stadium during his time at Auburn. Considering the way the Tigers finished 2018, that felt like an understandable reason for skepticism. But I’ll admit, they showed up ready to roll in Atlanta against an extremely talented Washington team. The Tigers played like they had something to prove, especially in the front 7. That’s a team that deserves to be in the top 5.

Florida — Feleipe Franks is at least capable

FCS DEFENSE DISCLAIMER NOTICE.

Still, after the Gators didn’t get that early-season cupcake game last year, Franks delivered in his debut under Dan Mullen. He became the first Florida quarterback to throw for 5 touchdowns in a half in 18 years. More important than touchdown passes for Franks’ long-term outlook was how he looked completing passes downfield. He was solid in that department. If that didn’t make Florida fans at least hopeful that Franks could be a legitimate SEC starting quarterback, surely the jump pass did the trick.

Georgia — Justin Fields will play earlier than I thought … sort of

I expected to see the 5-star freshman Saturday. I did not, however, expect to see him early in the second quarter. With Georgia up 17-0, Fields made his collegiate debut. It probably didn’t calm any of the hype. His 7-of-8 passing for 63 yards and he even showed off the wheels with a 17-yard run. We saw Fields’ first career touchdown pass, which was a nice run after catch from Isaac Nauta. Will Fields play against South Carolina? I doubt it, but it was nice to see the blue chip recruit in something that wasn’t a spring game.

Kentucky — The backfield isn’t all Benny Snell

There were reports before the game that Snell was under the weather. Snell still did his part with 125 rushing yards and a couple scores, but how about sophomore Asim Rose? With just 8 carries, he broke the century mark and ran for a couple scores. On a day in which the Wildcats turned the ball over 4 times and got off to a slow start, that was key. They’ll need more from Rose and Terry Wilson if they want to avoid a losing season in the SEC.

LSU — That’s no 7-win team

Hand up. I had Miami beating LSU. I know. I was an idiot. But after watching LSU dominate the Hurricanes, it’s obvious that LSU is winning it all. OK, I won’t go that far. But man, this was a 9-win team that just beat a top-10 team in an opener. It’s amazing to think that some people were predicting LSU to hit the under on a 6.5-win season. That defense, with Devin White and Rashard Lawrence, is something else. That’s not news. What was news was the solid play by the LSU offensive line, and the smart decisions of Joe Burrow (that check to a run on that first touchdown was key, too). The schedule is still daunting, but man, the Tigers don’t look like a team that’s ready to flirt with being mediocre.

Mississippi State — Bob Shoop has some interesting plans for Gerri Green

I didn’t learn that Joe Moorhead’s offense was capable of scoring a billion points against an FCS defense. What I did learn was that defensive coordinator Bob Shoop isn’t planning on using Green like a typical defensive end on every down. MSU beat reporter Brett Hudson pointed out how Green basically was lined up as a cornerback.

Green is sort of the overlooked star up front. His leadership and versatility is huge for that unit. Clearly, Shoop has no problems utilizing that.

Missouri — What Derek Dooley’s offense will look like

It wasn’t exactly a finished product, but we did find out a few things about the new Mizzou offensive coordinator. The pace was slower than the one that Josh Heupel ran, though the Tigers still had the deep ball working. That’s what one would expect with Drew Lock still in Columbia. It was still a pass-heavy offense, at least before it got out of hand. It would’ve been nice to see the Tigers run for better than 3.5 yards per carry, but nothing we saw from them suggested that this unit will fall off the face of the earth.

Ole Miss — New mascot, new defense?

I feel like every time Ole Miss keeps a Power 5 team under 200 yards rushing, it’s worth celebrating. So yes, holding Texas Tech to just 4.2 yards per carry was a huge win. Credit Ole Miss defensive coordinator Wesley McGriff, who went with a younger group, but saw nice early returns. The Rebels/Landsharks even held the Red Raiders to less than 6 yards per passing attempt. Ole Miss didn’t need a sack or a turnover. This is a much more dangerous team if it can just be average on that side of the ball.

South Carolina — Deebo Samuel is back

I’d rather show instead of tell.

https://twitter.com/espn/status/1035965738488672256

Stay healthy, please.

Signed,

Everyone who enjoys watching Deebo Samuel play football

Tennessee — Jeremy Pruitt’s defense has further to go than some thought

I didn’t buy the notion that Tennessee would contain Will Grier for 60 minutes. Some, like Kirk Herbstreit, talked themselves into Pruitt’s defense stopping the Heisman Trophy contender (I made some awful picks, too). That obviously didn’t happen. It ended up being a one-sided affair that probably made Tennessee fans flash back to last year’s winless mark in SEC play. Better days will be ahead. How do I know that? Well, because the Vols don’t have to face Grier and David Sills V every week. And Prutt’s track record is too good for Tennessee not to make some strides in Year 1.

Texas A&M — Kellen Mond looks like a different player under Jimbo Fisher

Again, FCS defenses make a lot of Power 5 quarterbacks look good. But if you watched Mond on Thursday night, you saw the Fisher impact. The A&M sophomore was confident and patient. He operated out of the shotgun, the pistol and even under center. We saw Mond do a variety of things, and most importantly, he hit open receivers in stride. His deep ball looked significantly improved, which was a product of how well he kept his eyes downfield. We’ll see how different Mond looks against that all-world Clemson defense next week.

Vanderbilt — So far, that defensive coordinator call looks pretty smart

Derek Mason made Jason Tarver his first defensive coordinator. Saturday, that looked like a pretty smart move. The Commodores held Brent Stockstill in check and pitched a second-half shutout. That was key after Vandy got off to a slow offensive start in the first game of the post-Ralph Webb III era. Jordan Griffin and Kenny Hebert led a defensive effort that was reminiscent of the Commodores’ start to the 2017 season. Let’s see if that fast start can continue a little later than it did last year.