College football is always great for weather nerds. This weekend, everyone will be talking about how hot it is in Texas for the game between the Longhorns and Alabama.

In a few short weeks, though, we’ll have our first snow games in the Big Ten (and possibly at a couple of northern Pac-12 schools or Colorado or Utah. There’s rain and lightning, as 3 SEC games in Week 1 had lengthy lightning delays.

Then, come bowl season, there will be more warm weather as teams flock to Arizona, Florida, Texas, Hawaii and even the Bahamas to play postseason games.

Even though football is considered a “fall” sport, it’s certainly still summer around the country right now. Expect some scorching hot temperatures across the country this weekend.

Now, let’s dive into your questions for this week’s Mailbag:

Mark:

If you scored a touchdown in a road game, what taunt would be the most satisfying to do? Everyone loves to do the “Horns Down” gesture, but it might be more satisfying to do a full-armed Gator Chomp after scoring as an opposing player in The Swamp.

Those are both great in-game taunts. And I agree with you – getting both arms going with a full Gator Chomp would be more satisfying as a taunt.

But, since you didn’t specify at what point of the game my hypothetical touchdown came, I’m going to imagine it is a last play winning touchdown. Nothing would be more satisfying than planting your team’s flag at midfield in an opposing stadium, a la Baker Mayfield at Ohio State a few years back.

That’s just so disrespectful, so outrageous, so dramatic and so intense that it takes the cake as far as taunts go.

If we’re going team-specific taunts, though, then I agree that the Gator Chomp would be more fun than Horns Down. But with how upset Texas fans get when anyone does Horns Down, that would be plenty of fun, too. Doing Ls Down at Louisville would be great, as well.

James:

Which league ultimately wins the realignment battle – the Pac-12 or Big 12? It seems there’s only room for 1 of those conferences to survive.

In my opinion, that all depends on the Big Ten. If the Big Ten ultimately decides it wants Oregon, Washington, Cal and Stanford, that’s basically a death blow for the Pac-12. That would likely lead to the Big 12 adding Colorado, Utah, Arizona and Arizona State.

You can’t really build a conference around Washington State and Oregon State, so those schools would be left out in the cold.

However, I do think there’s room for both the Big 12 and Pac-12 to survive. The Big 12 is losing Texas and Oklahoma, yes, but it is adding Houston, BYU, UCF and Cincinnati. Those are all quality schools and will eventually put the Big 12 back at 12 teams (crazy, I know).

Meanwhile, the Pac-12 could add San Diego State after losing USC and UCLA to keep a southern California presence. To get back up to 12 teams, Nevada and Boise State would be intriguing options.

Those leagues would still be behind the Big Ten and SEC, no doubt, but they’d survive realignment, and that’s all you can really ask for at this point.

@SChinni12:

When the 2022 NFL season is over, which former SEC QB will have the most passing yards?

That’s a good question, as there are numerous starting quarterbacks from the SEC this fall in the pro ranks. Here’s a list of all the starting QBs who once called the SEC home:

  • Matthew Stafford (Georgia) – Los Angeles Rams
  • Joe Burrow (LSU) – Cincinnati Bengals
  • Jalen Hurts (Alabama) – Philadelphia Eagles
  • Dak Prescott (Mississippi State) – Dallas Cowboys
  • Mac Jones (Alabama) – New England Patriots
  • Tua Tagovailoa (Alabama) – Miami Dolphins
  • Jacoby Brissett (Florida) – Cleveland Browns

That doesn’t include Ryan Tannehill (Texas A&M) who didn’t technically play in the SEC during his time with the Aggies. Oh, and you know I have to give my guy Drew Lock (Mizzou) a shout out here, as I think the Seahawks will give him the starting job before the first month of the season is out.

Stafford and Burrow obviously met in the Super Bowl last year, so they’re both on great teams. The Dolphins added Tyreek Hill to their receiving corps to give Tagovailoa a superstar this season. Prescott threw for 4,902 yards as recently as 2019.

Stafford led all the former SEC quarterbacks with 4,886 passing yards last year. But this year, I think Burrow takes the crown. The Bengals upgraded his offensive line. They still have Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins and Tyler Boyd. Joe Mixon is a great weapon out of the backfield.

The Bengals’ offense could (and should) be one of the absolute best in the NFL this fall. I believe Burrow will hit the 5,000-yard mark.

@Dobbe8:

Which SEC team is most in danger of losing a nonconference game this weekend?

Well, I’ll get this on the record right now and say I guarantee the SEC won’t go 13-1 this weekend like it did in Week 1. Why am I so confident? Well, mostly because there are 2 SEC vs. SEC games on the Week 2 slate (South Carolina at Arkansas and Kentucky at Florida), so 2 losses are inevitable.

That technicality aside, I also think Mizzou (at Kansas State), Tennessee (at Pitt) and Mississippi State (at Arizona) are in danger of losing tough true road games on Saturday. And I’m picking No. 23 Wake Forest to beat Vanderbilt in Nashville, especially now that QB Sam Hartman has been cleared to play.

That 11 p.m. Eastern kickoff time for Mississippi State-Arizona has Pac-12 After Dark written all over it. Tennessee faces a Pitt team that feels disrespected as underdogs at home.

But, outside of Vanderbilt, Mizzou is in the most trouble. Deuce Vaughn is one of the most underrated running backs in the country. The Tigers technically have the nation’s No. 1 run defense after Week 1, but that will be put to the test in a big way on Saturday.

If QB Brady Cook can’t connect for a couple of big plays down the field to WR Luther Burden, the Tigers are certainly in danger of losing.

Have a question for next week’s Mailbag? Tweet at us using #SDSMailbag or email me at Adam.Spencer@XLMedia.com.