Eight months, completely out the window.

OK, that’s a bit too dramatic to say about the college football offseason. At the same time, I do believe that in no other sport can 8 months of offseason storylines go out the window in 1 day. It’s why I’ll take “spring camp stars” or even “fall camp disappointments” with a grain of salt.

Give me the actual football games. That’s where we learn the important stuff.

Week 1 is the first real insight into who a team will really be. And sure, some of that has to be taken with a grain of salt, especially when 10 of the 14 SEC games are against Group of 5 or FCS foes. But even games against lesser competition can have some revealing takeaways.

Here’s 1 thing I learned from every SEC team in Week 1 (note that LSU will play Florida State on Sunday night):

Alabama — Jalen Milroe has a stranglehold of this starting job … and Ty Simpson is QB3

Milroe played a solid ballgame in his first start as Alabama’s true QB1 (his lone previous start was for an injured Bryce Young). The elder statesman of that quarterback room looked the part against Middle Tennessee and became the first Alabama quarterback with 3 passing touchdowns and 2 rushing touchdowns in a game. His remarkable athletic ability was on full display when a ground ball snap turned into a touchdown run.

Milroe wasn’t just a threat with his legs. He had chunk plays in the passing game — he was 13-for-19 for 194 yards and 3 scores — without turning the ball over. For now, Milroe is the guy. Unless he starts showing signs of a guy who still doesn’t have that pocket presence, that quarterback hierarchy won’t matter as much. Tyler Buchner earned QB2 honors, which was a semi-surprise after he transferred from Notre Dame after spring. But make no mistake. The battle is over. Buchner didn’t enter the game until it was 42-0.

It’ll be Milroe against Texas with College GameDay in the house next week.

Arkansas — It’s fair to question a couple of things with the ground game

With Dan Enos taking over for Kendal Briles, we knew that this Arkansas ground attack was going to look different. The question was how big of a step back it would be. Well, Saturday’s start in a favorable matchup wasn’t a promising sign. Arkansas was held to 2.9 yards per carry against FCS Western Carolina, albeit in a 56-13 victory wherein KJ Jefferson looked excellent. And it’s also worth mentioning that the anchor of that offensive line, Brady Latham, was held out with an injury. He’s expected to return.

Still, though. The running lanes were virtually nonexistent for Rocket Sanders, who was held to 42 yards in 15 carries. The biggest running lane of the day might’ve been on a phenomenal pull by Jefferson on the zone read. That was the longest run on the day, and it was just 17 yards. That offensive line was a rare area of concern for Sam Pittman. Essentially playing with just 1 returning starter (Beaux Limmer), Saturday was an early indicator that he might’ve been on to something.

Auburn — Jarquez Hunter was not active

On3 reported on Thursday that the star running back would not be playing. Hugh Freeze has been coy about Hunter’s status throughout this offseason. Hunter was in his jersey and sweatpants for Freeze’s debut. That came after Hunter was allegedly the subject of a sex tape that was released in the summer. In Hunter’s place, Damari Alston got the start. The good news? UMass didn’t have much of a chance to slow down the Auburn rushing attack, which also saw Robby Ashford run for 3 scores.

The other good news? Auburn doesn’t face a team that went to a bowl game until Week 5.

Florida — Those weaknesses are still as obvious as ever

Was Billy Napier going to pounce on an opportunity to perhaps go into a hostile atmosphere and pull out a victory against a Cam Rising-less Utah team? Or was it going to look completely incompetent on 3rd down, have terrible special teams, make horrendous mental errors (false starts on 4th-and-1, have 2 different guys wearing No. 3 on the same punt return to extend a Utah drive, etc.) and look overwhelmed any time Utah sent pressure? Um, the latter.

Going 1-for-13 on 3rd down was never gonna cut it, regardless of who Utah’s starting quarterback was. It didn’t even matter that Austin Armstrong’s defense actually made some nice adjustments and really kept the Utes offense at bay. But an inexperienced offensive line is going to be an issue all year for Graham Mertz, who didn’t play poorly. There’s just no world in which you want him attempting 44 passes behind that offensive line as he’s trying to get on the same page as these receivers. A long road awaits Florida in 2023.

Georgia — Don’t rewrite those offensive record books just yet

I get it. Georgia went into this game with a new offensive coordinator (Mike Bobo), a new starting quarterback (Carson Beck) and a go-to receiver who was out with a back injury (Ladd McConkey). No, it probably wasn’t going to be the most diverse offensive game plan and yes, it was still a 48-point effort, 7 of which came on a pick-6. Having said that, no, that wasn’t the offensive debut that Georgia was hoping for in 2023. It was 7-0 with 5 minutes left in the first half. There was little rhythm. The chunk plays were hard to come by. The sense of urgency just wasn’t there.

Are we nitpicking a bit? Yeah, but Bobo took over a different standard than the one he left in the mid-2010s. This is the Todd Monken standard. Sure, Monken had some slow starts, but against FCS competition? Georgia is used to being up 28-0 at the end of the first quarter against that type of competition. Better days are ahead, but when you don’t see receivers getting passes in big throwing windows and the banged-up ground game isn’t imposing its will, yeah, we can nitpick.

Kentucky — Devin Leary looked like someone starting with a new team

Depending on how you felt about Sam Hartman transferring to Notre Dame, Leary was either No. 1 or No. 2 on the list of “top transfer quarterbacks.” But in his first game at UK, Leary was just … off. He had throws batted at the line of scrimmage, the deep connections weren’t really there unless there was some significant separation and he wasn’t always on the same page with his wideouts in the intermediate passing game. It led to an interception.

Leary’s final numbers were modest — 18-for-31, 241 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT — though he did connect with Dane Key for a handful of big plays. It was perfectly fine to have a day like that early against an inferior Ball State team. Kentucky got an excellent debut from tailback Ray Davis, a kickoff return touchdown from Barion Brown, plus a scoop and score that totally flipped momentum early (the Cats should’ve had another but it was incorrectly whistled dead). Better days are ahead for Leary, but after an offseason with a whole lot of buzz, we were reminded that developing that connection with receivers in game speed takes time.

Mississippi State — Creed Whittemore showed up trying to do it all in this new offense

It was fair to wonder if the true freshman from Gainesville would flip his commitment after the death of Mike Leach. Whittemore, a former Florida commit who wanted to play with his brother Trent Whittemore, had plenty of options as a 4-star recruit with plenty of Power 5 offers. But even as the inevitable offensive scheme change hung over his commitment, he held true to Mississippi State. You can bet Will Rogers appreciated that. We saw Whittemore’s impact in Kevin Barbay’s offense immediately. You saw Whittemore go in motion — something that wasn’t exactly a Leach Air Raid staple — and fool the secondary on Rogers’ first real downfield hit in this new offense.

All Whittemore did to follow that up was run for a 53-yard score to put an exclamation point on the blowout win. The converted quarterback looks like he’s going to be a legitimate go-to weapon for Rogers, who struggled early with his accuracy. Whittemore will line up all over the place in this new-look offense. Even though it won’t be a group that’ll throw the ball 50 times like the scheme he initially committed to, Whittemore is going to have a significant impact.

Mizzou — Brady Cook is going to be QB1 until further notice

The battle is over. I know, Mizzou fans. You love you some Sam Horn. The 2-sport stud is the quarterback of the future. But after Eli Drinkwitz told us the battle would continue into Week 1, we didn’t see Horn step in until the game was decided in the middle of the third quarter. That was preceded by Cook looking excellent with 4 touchdown drives. As Drinkwitz said afterward when asked about their performance, “Brady scored 28 and Sam scored 7.” Yes, it was an FCS foe. Drinkwitz isn’t going to stick with a quarterback just based on that, but the division of reps told the story. For now, Mizzou fans, just watch this Horn-to-Luther Burden touchdown on repeat.

Ole Miss — Tre Harris has some big plans in 2023

My goodness. Welcome to the SEC, guy. Harris was a decorated transfer from Louisiana Tech, and after 1 game at his new home, he’s a decorated player at Ole Miss. Harris had 3 touchdowns in the first 3 minutes and 15 seconds en route to a 4-touchdown day. That set an Ole Miss record for receiving touchdowns in a single game. And it wasn’t just a case of Lane Kiffin and Charlie Weis Jr. scheming Harris open. He broke tackles and was devastating in space.

Yes, it was against an FCS foe, but how can you not be encouraged by Harris? He caught jump balls, he showed patience with his route running and he was deadly after the catch. We never seem to worry about the new Ole Miss pass-catchers under Lane Kiffin. Harris and fellow transfer Zakhari Franklin, who was out with a knee injury, were asked to step into big roles in this offense. The early returns couldn’t be better.

South Carolina — That offensive line is still a massive problem

You could point to South Carolina having Nick Emmanwori and Juice Wells dealing with injuries as a reason it couldn’t get over the hump. Alternatively, you could point to the fact that once again, Shane Beamer’s squad didn’t get any help whatsoever on the offensive line. You had missed assignments, little to no push in the ground game (-2 rushing yards), and ultimately, a limited offensive playbook. That’s an issue. You don’t take the next step in the SEC if that’s a major liability.

Spencer Rattler can overcome some of that with his insane arm talent, but his pocket presence still puts him in tough spots occasionally, and he’s not getting into any rhythm if he’s constantly drifting to his right. As Sean McDonough said, “he’s not gonna survive the season if they don’t block better.” Nine sacks, 14 tackles for loss. Nope. That won’t get it done.

Tennessee — Joe Milton is still a work in progress, which is OK

We probably should’ve expected this. He’s in Year 6 of college, and he’s trying to become a starter for the third time. All-world arm talent or not, that’s not a coincidence. But at the same time, if Milton had come out and completed some 75-yard dime instead of struggling on downfield throws — he did have 2 on-target throws to Ramel Keyton and 1 was dropped — you can bet that the Heisman Trophy campaign would’ve been off and running. Instead, there was some inconsistency and only 1 chunk play in the passing game.

That doesn’t mean Tennessee is due for major offensive regression or that Milton will lose his job to Nico Iamaleava. The multi-faceted ground game should still be one of the nation’s best. If Milton can make strides in the intermediate passing game, there’ll be a much steadier passing attack. That’s a big “if,” though. For now, Tennessee will continue to lean heavily on the ground attack, which ran for 247 yards even without center Cooper Mays.

Texas A&M — Learning curve with Bobby Petrino? Nah, no need.

There were plenty of SEC offenses that experienced slow offensive starts with their new coordinators. A&M wasn’t one of them. The Aggies, with Bobby Petrino at the controls, got whatever they wanted offensively. Conner Weigman handled pressure extremely well. Whether it was Evan Stewart, Noah Thomas or Ainias Smith, everyone Weigman targeted made plays. More important? They made plays downfield and in space. That was the biggest thing we needed to see from A&M. The explosive plays were there all night. The Aggies ran a variety of formations — the long touchdown to Stewart was play-action from under center — and looked plenty prolific.

That doesn’t mean Weigman and the A&M offense will be a total juggernaut. It is, however, worth remembering that entering 2023, A&M only hit 42 points vs. FBS competition 3 times in the past 3 seasons. But that was an ideal start. And hey! We only had 1 Petrino meltdown in the booth, and it came when A&M messed up a substitution … while leading 35-7. Life could be worse.

Vanderbilt — Sedrick Alexander needs to have a role in the offense

The true freshman can absolutely scoot. We saw that late in Saturday night’s blowout win against Alabama A&M. Alexander had a pair of highlight-reel touchdown runs wherein he escaped several tacklers en route to pay dirt. He had another run where he hurdled a tackler in the open field. After he had just 2 carries for 2 yards in last week’s opener against Hawaii, Alexander was dominant late in relief for Patrick “Cheeks” Smith. He finished the night with 12 carries for 87 yards.

Vandy has some legitimate playmakers in the passing game with Will Sheppard and Jayden McGowan, but Clark Lea would love to have a multi-faceted ground attack in a post-Ray Davis world. It was only an FCS foe, but Alexander certainly looked up to that task.