Taken in sum, Saturday was successful for the SEC East.

The division went 5-1, with wins coming every way imaginable. There were convincing victories (Georgia over Appalachian State and Vanderbilt over Middle Tennessee State) and nail-biters (South Carolina over North Carolina State and Kentucky over Southern Miss) and downright silliness (the basketball game that broke out in Missouri’s 72-43 win over Missouri State). The problem is, the one loss resonates more, at least nationally, than the five wins.

That defeat was courtesy of Florida, which fell to Michigan 33-17 in Arlington, Texas.

Some might point out that it’s ridiculous to say one loss outweighs five wins. But facts are facts: Florida versus Michigan was the only one of the six games featuring SEC East representatives Saturday that involved a pair of ranked teams. Add in the fact that it pitted two college football blue bloods against each other, and it’s logical that plenty of snap judgments would be made afterward irrespective of the outcome.

Yet there was one takeaway that sounds like a “hot take” but cools off when put in context: Florida’s offense is awful.

Not exactly breaking news — which you can read about here and here — that an offense that struggled mightily last season started off the 2017 campaign the same way.

Pick any abysmal offensive stat you want. There are plenty to choose from, whether it’s the 192 total yards, the 11 (!!) rushing yards, the 2-of-13 showing on third down or the second-half shutout. Or perhaps you’d prefer to focus on the fact the Gators’ defense outscored the offense 14-3 thanks to a pair of second-quarter pick-sixes.

And again, this isn’t simply an issue that reared its head Saturday.

As pointed out by Edgar Thompson, who covers the Gators for the Orlando Sentinel, Florida has failed to score an offensive touchdown in three of its past seven games, coming up empty against Arkansas, Florida State and Michigan.

And then there’s this tidbit from Saturday Down South colleague Corey Long: The Gators’ defense and special teams have scored four touchdowns in the past four games; the offense, on the other hand, has found the end zone just three times.

It’s puzzling to say the least, given coach Jim McElwain’s credentials.

His reputation as an offensive guru, at least prior to arriving at Florida, is unquestionable. Just look at his resume. Wherever he’s been through the years — outside of a stint as the Oakland Raiders’ quarterbacks coach in 2006, when the organization hit rock bottom and went 2-14, its worst record since the NFL went to a 16-game schedule in 1978 — the offenses have excelled.

He came to Florida fresh off guiding a stellar offensive attack at Colorado State. He was Alabama’s offensive coordinator when Mark Ingram won the Heisman Trophy and Trent Richardson was a finalist. And he’s been part of staffs at Fresno State, Michigan State and Louisville that oversaw some of the most explosive offensive attacks in their schools’ histories.

If anyone should be able to solve the Gators’ offensive woes, it should be McElwain.

He just needs to find a solution before an already frustrated fan base becomes too restless.

Now let’s take a look at what else is going on around the SEC East:

Florida

As if things weren’t bad enough for the Gators on Saturday, they also lost Chauncey Gardner, a key defender, to an injury in the middle of the loss. He was later seen on the sideline walking with the aid of crutches. There was no immediate update on his status after the game, but 247Sports’ Thomas Goldkamp noted Gardner had to be carted from the stadium.

And an offensive line that was supposed to be “new and improved” showed it wasn’t ready for prime time quite yet.

Georgia

There was plenty written about true freshman quarterback Jake Fromm, who came in after Jacob Eason was injured in the first quarter and went on to lead Georgia to an easy victory over Appalachian State. Fromm certainly didn’t appear overwhelmed by the moment, and that bodes well for the future.

Aside from Fromm’s stellar play and a dominant outing from the defense, DawgNation’s Seth Emerson noted that the Bulldogs’ specialists were superb.

Kentucky

The good news: Kentucky’s defense was terrific, allowing Southern Miss to average just 1.8 yards per carry. It was the fewest yards per carry the Wildcats have allowed in a game since 2012.

The bad news: Kentucky’s own running game was equally underwhelming, averaging a scant 2.2 yards per carry. That won’t cut it when the Wildcats start playing SEC opponents.

Missouri

Everything about the Tigers’ offensive performance was stunning. Their 815 yards of total offense marked the second-best effort by an SEC team in history. Quarterback Drew Lock set a single-game school record with seven touchdown passes. He also set single-game school marks for passing yards (521) and total offense (515).

But man oh man, that defense.

Consider this: The most points Missouri had ever allowed in a season opener prior to Saturday was 42, in 1946 and 2008, respectively. Missouri State scored 43.

South Carolina

The Gamecocks found a way to win Saturday. There’s really no other way to describe it. They were outgained by N.C. State 504-246, but it didn’t matter. What was a bit of a concern, at least in the first half, were the headsets. Neither team had any that worked.

“That was a lot of fun in the first half when you had no communication with the pressbox,” coach Will Muschamp said, according to The Post & Courier. “First time in my coaching career.”

But the Gamecocks and their coaches persevered. And given that they they were five-point underdogs prior to kickoff, you could say South Carolina has gotten used to that whole “proving doubters wrong” thing.

Tennessee

The Volunteers kick off their season Monday night, taking on Georgia Tech in Atlanta.

Tennessee will go into that game at less than full strength, as Wes Rucker of Tennessee’s 247Sports site reports the Vols are dealing with yet another injury at linebacker.

Tennessee also named its team captains for Monday’s game on Saturday.

And this is a good pregame read whether you cheer for Tennessee or not: Senior safety and team leader Todd Kelly Jr. is an aspiring surgeon.

Vanderbilt

Vanderbilt took care of Middle Tennessee State 28-6 to start the season 1-0.

But did you see the hit TE Jared Pinkney put on the Middle Tennessee defender? Hit of the week!

Tweet of the week

We’ve already touched on Florida’s offensive futility and Missouri’s equally bad defensive effort.

So Pat Forde came to the “rescue” of both parties, in a manner of speaking.

Quote of the week

Since we’ve been so Gators-centric this week, might as well end with them, too, right?

And not only that, we’re going to provide a double-dose of quotes. Call them the co-quotes of the week.

First, we have McElwain touching on his strategy for the game:

“I thought we had a good plan obviously. As it turned out, the plan was pretty well foiled by getting physically whooped.”

And then there was wide receiver John Hammond, who made a fairly astonishing admission:

“You could tell they (Michigan) wanted it more.”

Ouch.