I wish I could tell you my Crystal Ball series was 100 percent. Then again, maybe I don’t. How boring would that be if I actually knew everything that happened in a football game. Nobody likes spoilers for movies, so why would you like spoilers for a football game?

Now is the part where I remember you can gamble on football games and you can’t gamble on movies. Bad point, Connor.

Nonetheless, Week 1 was full of revelations across the SEC. It usually is. Eight months worth of opinions can sometimes go out the door.

Every Sunday morning, I’ll recap 1 key thing that I learned from each SEC team. Here’s the first installment of that (obviously I haven’t learned anything from Florida State-LSU yet because this published on Sunday morning).

Tennessee — Bru McCoy is ready to be a fixture of the offense

The guy was ruled eligible on Aug. 26, so I was under the impression that his reps would be somewhat limited. Yeah, about that. McCoy played 46 snaps and caught 3 passes from Hendon Hooker until the starters got pulled early in the 2nd half. His presence was extremely encouraging for a Tennessee offense that’s looking to establish that perfect complement alongside Cedric Tillman.

McCoy might not have the chemistry that Tillman and Hooker have. But there was 1 occasion where an extremely high-risk pass to the far sideline could been picked off, and instead, McCoy hauled it in and turned upfield. The USC transfer might not be elite at getting separation, but he’s going to have a key role hauling in contested passes and making grabs outside the hashes where Hooker typically likes to operate.

Mizzou — Eli Drinkwitz is willing to manufacture touches for Luther Burden in a variety of ways

Wildcat quarterback? Downfield target? Shallow crossing route to the near sideline in hopes that 4 defenders will miss and allow a touchdown? Drinkwitz schemed up all of these things for the 5-star true freshman in his college debut. The No. 1 receiver in the 2022 class had 2 scores and absolutely looked the part. It didn’t necessarily hold him back that he and Brady Cook aren’t quite in sync yet downfield. Burden also had a drop on a pass over the middle that resulted in a Louisiana Tech interception. That’s the downside of featuring a true freshman receiver so heavily in the offense. The upside, however, is obvious. Here was Burden’s snap count from his debut:

  • Wide: 44
  • Slot: 5
  • QB: 3
  • Inline: 1

Mizzou is going to be without receiver Chance Luper for 6-8 weeks, so Burden’s presence is that much more important for an offense that lacked outside weapons so far in the Drinkwitz era.

Texas A&M — Zach Calzada leaving wasn’t instantly going to turn around A&M’s offense

I don’t know how many times I had to combat this notion in the offseason, but it was often. In a strange game that featured a long rain delay, all we saw A&M do was look like the same offense that sputtered in 2021. Haynes King got bailed out with a couple of wide-open throws — the Ainias Smith score was a nice read with a medium-sized window over the middle — but multiple picks on deep throws against FCS competition was … not ideal. A&M was stuck on 10 points in the final minute of the 1st half.

Jimbo Fisher said that King played “solid.” But it wasn’t exactly the exhale performance that Aggies fans were probably hoping for after he was knocked out after 5 quarters in 2021.

Georgia — Oh, that defensive regression? It’s gonna have to wait

Look. UGA is going to regress defensively. There’s simply no way that Kirby Smart’s defense will be as dominant as it was last year, especially after it had 5 players selected in the 1st round alone. But man, you wouldn’t have known watching the way that group came out against Oregon. Malaki Starks made an All-American-level interception in his debut, Smael Mondon Jr. was everywhere, and if Christopher Smith doesn’t earn some SEC Defensive Player of the Week consideration, well, that’d be a mistake. Bo Nix never had a chance. Who would’ve thought that this game, with 8 months to prepare, would be his worst showing against UGA in his career? Credit Smart for pushing all the right buttons and avoiding any “championship hangover.”

Arkansas — The Trey Knox breakout might finally be coming

It’s easy to forget that Knox and Treylon Burks were once mentioned in the same breath in getting that “future All-SEC skill player” buzz. Then, after that brilliant 4-game start, Knox totaled just 34 catches for 297 yards and 2 touchdowns in his next 2 1/2 seasons. But on Saturday, Knox looked every bit like that breakout star. The receiver-turned-tight end was a safety blanket for KJ Jefferson. He scored on a jump pass, and then he had a huge touchdown to add to the Arkansas lead late with a catch and run down the right sideline. For someone who added weight to be a true tight end, Knox is going to be a matchup nightmare in Kendal Briles’ scheme.

Ole Miss — The QB situation is not settled

Well, that was strange. Both Jaxson Dart and Luke Altmyer were announced as the Ole Miss starting QBs. Then Dart played nearly the entire game, with Altmyer getting just 2 pass attempts, and he fumbled the exchange. But then after a somewhat lackluster showing from Dart — he did find Malik Heath in the end zone with nice patience on the RPO — Lane Kiffin confirmed that Altmyer will start vs. Central Arkansas next week. It’s a Jim Harbaugh-like approach to the quarterback battle. The good news for Ole Miss? Zach Evans looks more than capable of carrying the load while Ole Miss figures out its passing game with a favorable slate to start.

Auburn — The Robby Ashford package exists, and it’s enticing

I know, I know. It was Mercer. You can roll out different packages against FCS foes with low risk. But man, how can you not be intrigued by what you saw from the Oregon transfer?

Ashford did it with his legs, too. He took off for a play on the left sideline for 49 yards, and he did it with relative ease. Not bad for someone who had never taken an FBS snap. Of course, we knew that Ashford getting reps was a likely possibility even with TJ Finley locked in as the starter. Ashford’s 1st touch came in the 2nd quarter, and he came in for Finley after 2 interceptions, albeit with Auburn already up big. What Ashford did after taking over for Finley was change Auburn’s offensive play-making ability. Granted, the sample size was still small. But 100 passing yards (on 14.3 yards/attempt) and 68 rushing yards understandably had Auburn fans all sorts of fired up about his potential in the offense.

Kentucky — Tayvion Robinson is ready to be Will Levis’ go-to target

I said this offseason that there would be moments when people would watch Kentucky and say to themselves, “Wait, I thought that Robinson guy went to the NFL?” He did. Wan’Dale Robinson is gone. Tayvion Robinson, however, is here, and darned if he didn’t earn some of those comps in his Kentucky debut. Levis clearly trusted him operating out of the slot, but it was more about what Robinson is capable of in space. The Virginia Tech transfer is going to be a much-needed veteran playmaker in Rich Scangarello’s offense.

Florida — Billy Napier ain’t scared

Of anybody. What a decision it was to let the clock tick down ahead of that crucial 4th down in Utah territory. It’s one thing to do that in a tie game. Napier did it while trailing. Why? He had faith that Anthony Richardson would make something happen. Don’t you know it, he did. Those are the types of in-game decisions that allow you to exceed expectations. Napier has a long way to go in order to do that, but he had his team ready to go, especially in the game’s biggest moments. Between that, the goal-line stand and the game-sealing interception, the Gators showed resiliency that we really haven’t seen since the middle of 2020. Napier’s debut was everything Florida fans could’ve hoped for.

Vanderbilt — Mike Wright > Jay Cutler

Wait … what? Hey, the record speaks for itself:

Wright is no Cutler, but he’s well on his way to becoming a guy who will absolutely look the part of “SEC quarterback.” The offensive line is still going to be a liability against the better competition, and he’ll probably have to do more with his arm in obvious throwing situations. But how could you not be encouraged by Wright’s start? The offense is averaging north of 50 points per game 2 weeks into the season. That’s for a group that had consecutive 30-point games for the 1st time since 2018. If he continues that into Week 3, that’d be quite the feat.

Alabama — Bryce Young is running now?!?

So remember how we talked in the offseason about what Young could possibly do in order to actually 1-up his Heisman Trophy season? Yeah, becoming an actual runner is one of them. He did that in the season opener with 96 rushing yards, including a 63-yard run, which was 4 times longer than his previous career-long run of 16 yards.

Goodness, that’s scary. Young typically creates space to throw with his legs. You knew that the athleticism was there, but when you can make on-target throws like he can out of the pocket, you don’t really need to expose yourself in that way. Young’s new elements were on full display in his encore debut. That included finding freshman Kobe Prentice and 2nd-year wideout Traeshon Holden. Oh, and new target Jermaine Burton also got in twice. In other words, Young is finding new ways to dominate.

Mississippi State — Zach Arnett’s defense is ready to do the heavy lifting

At times, it did that last year. It did have the SEC’s No. 3 run defense. But with 79.1 percent of last year’s defensive snaps back, MSU entered 2022 with hopes of taking another step in Year 3 of Arnett’s defense. It’s early, but in a revenge game after last year’s debacle in Memphis, MSU put the clamps on. The Tigers gained just 29 yards in the 1st half (27 passing, 2 rushing). That’s what you’d hope an experienced group would look like. It didn’t matter that MSU dealt with a long rain delay, either. A Mike Leach-coached team has only had 1 defense ever rank in the top 30 in scoring. This 2022 group could be well on its way to joining that club.

South Carolina — That offensive line might still be a liability

The good news for South Carolina’s offensive line was that it returned all 5 of its starters. The bad news? It returned all 5 starters from a group that was subpar at best last year. The Gamecocks struggled to run the ball last year, but the Mayo Bowl perhaps was a bit of fool’s gold. Spencer Rattler was under duress in his debut, and it didn’t help that South Carolina really didn’t get much push to get the ground game going. Hence, why Jaheim Bell’s run game involvement became a thing, just as Marcus Satterfield teased. South Carolina faced a Georgia State squad that gave the Gamecocks everything they could handle up front. Next up? An Arkansas team that’s darn good in the trenches.