Week 1 report card: Offenses erupt while SEC passes tests with ease
OFFENSE
Ole Miss, Tennessee and Florida: A+
Goodness gracious. All three of these teams came in with some question marks, and while big wins over lower-tier opponents won’t completely alleviate those concerns, each team has to be feeling great about what they saw Saturday.
- Ole Miss scored 27 first-quarter points, and with all three quarterbacks clicking, never slowed down in a 76-3 win over Tennessee-Martin.
- Led by transfer Alvin Kamara and sophomore Jalen Hurd, Tennessee rushed for nearly 400 yards while Joshua Dobbs passed for more than 200 in a 59-30 win over Bowling Green.
- Florida did as it pleased in Jim McElwain’s debut, totaling more than 600 yards in a 61-13 blowout of New Mexico State.
Arkansas: A
The Hogs didn’t quite match the astronomical numbers of the preceding teams, but the emergence of a passing game earns them high marks. Brandon Allen threw for 308 yards and had as many touchdowns as incompletions (four). It was Arkansas’ first 300-yard passing game of the Bret Bielema era, but the running game was not neglected; Alex Collins ran for 127 yards and a touchdown on just 12 carries.
Vanderbilt: D-
The failed two-point conversion that resulted in the Commodores’ 14-12 loss to Western Kentucky was emblematic of their night. Vanderbilt repeatedly moved into Hilltoppers territory Thursday only to bog down. They had just two field goals before finally reaching the end zone in the game’s final minute.
DEFENSE
Texas A&M: A
The impact of new defensive coordinator John Chavis was felt immediately in the Aggies’ 38-17 win over No. 15 Arizona State. Taking a defense that was the primary weakness of last year’s team, Chavis helped Texas A&M hold down a Sun Devils team that had been talked about as a playoff contender this season. Defensive ends Myles Garrett and Daeshon Hall combined for 6.5 sacks and three forced fumbles, and Arizona State finished with 102 rushing yards on 41 carries.
Alabama: A
The Badgers found mild and occasional success through the air, but the Crimson Tide front seven appears to be every bit as good as advertised. Alabama dominated Wisconsin up front, holding the No. 20 Badgers to 40 yards on 21 carries —effectively turning the run-first Badgers into a one-dimensional passing team.
Kentucky: D
For much of the game, it appeared this grade would be much higher, but the Wildcats gave up 26 second-half points and nearly squandered a 33-10 lead before Mikel Horton’s touchdown run in the final minute gave them a 40-33 win over Louisiana-Lafayette. The Ragin’ Cajuns finished with 479 yards of total offense and maintained possession for nearly two-thirds of the game. The bright spot for Kentucky: four forced turnovers.
SPECIAL TEAMS
Georgia: A+
Hard to find any fault with the Georgia special teams units Saturday. The Bulldogs blocked two punts, Reggie Davis had a couple of nice returns, the kickoff team covered well, and Collin Barber averaged nearly 44 yards per punt without allowing a return.
Texas A&M: A
Dear SEC, Know my name. You’ll be seeing a lot more of me in the next three to four years. Love, Christian Kirk.
COACHING
Florida: A
So far, so good for Jim McElwain’s tenure in Gainesville. The Gators looked sharp offensively, deftly managing a quarterback timeshare to complete 30 of 37 passes for 382 yards with four touchdowns and no interceptions. Fourteen Florida players recorded receptions, while 10 Gators rushers combined for 224 yards on the ground. Phase 2: achieving consistency. Remember, Florida looked equally dominant in a 65-0 win over Eastern Michigan last year.
Georgia: A
The Bulldogs didn’t need a full 60 minutes to hang 50 points on ULM, and new offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer showed an ability to get the ball in the hands of his best playmakers in a variety of ways. Nick Chubb’s greatness is a known quantity, but after seeing how Georgia used Sony Michel on Saturday, opposing defensive coordinators will have plenty to think about before facing the Bulldogs this season.
Auburn: C
No win over a respected opponent like Louisville deserves a failing grade, but it’s fair to say Auburn’s offense didn’t live up to expectations in Week 1. It could be a simple matter of establishing an identity. Recent Tigers successes have been built on powerful running games, but Jeremy Johnson is a different kind of quarterback and wasn’t at his best through the air on Saturday. Look for coach Gus Malzahn to use next week’s game against Jacksonville State to fine tune his offensive machine before Auburn travels to LSU on Sept. 19.
OVERALL
Can we pump the brakes on the “SEC is in decline” narrative? While the SEC went 12-1 on opening weekend, the vaunted (and admittedly well-stocked) Pac-12 looked pretty average — No. 21 Stanford lost to Northwestern and Pac-12 South contender Arizona State got humbled by Texas A&M. The Aggies’ win was a big one for the SEC, and along with Alabama’s impressive showing against No. 20 Wisconsin sent the message that the best conference in the land remains so, even after a substandard bowl season.
Defense: Mizzou A+
Turnovers, 56 passing yards allowed, blocked pooch punt for TD from defense, 3 points allowed
Looks like the new kids will be just fine.
Against something called Southeast Mo State, I suspect they would be.
Come on now man, you know they are never gonna leave out their favorite (Alabama). Florida didn’t allow a first down in the entire second half and held them to 200 total yards of offense which is leading the sec after one week and they aren’t on there either…
Didn’t the gators play a high school team?
Pretty much.
Go Gators!!!
Love that overall paragraph now old Herbie can stop with the PAC-12 catching up with the SEC
SEC East now 11 wins, 1 loss past 12 consecutive non-conference games, covering the bowls and 2015 week 1.
@buddha, I’m thinking Odom’s defense has the potential to be A+ but right now they are not A in anything (except maybe Brothers). Way too many yards, especially sweeps and options point of attack were lazy defense. Pass rush is think about it, think about it, think about it, then chase.
Alabama beats the projected B1G Division Champ Wisconsin by 3 scores.
A&M beats the projected PAC12 South Champ AZ State by, drum roll, 3 scores.
Auburn handles their business against ACC powerhouse by a score.
No overall grade.
Ole Miss, UT, & UF get an A+ for inhaling cupcakes.
Bama, Aggies, and even those War Eagle fellas shut some snickering up in CFB world this weekend. The rest of the SEC crowd stayed true to the non conference cupcake opener. To hell with y’all. Have some testicular fortitude and play somebody that can beat you on opening weekend.
Like who? Look around the country and you see many of the top schools from the other conferences scheduling their own cupcakes for opening game. It’s not an SEC-centric phenomena.
Maybe you mean a school like Georgia who opened with Clemson the past two years, and has a home-and-away with Notre Dame on the slate coming up?
Clean off the rear-view mirror and you’ll see Texas A&M’s last 4 non-conference openers were against Lamar, Sam Houston State, and SMU twice. Getting two noteworthy FBS schools to play a non-conference game early is not easy, which is why these neutral-site kickoff games are so popular.
Both of you make great points. It’s just week 1. The rest of the SEC will have time to prove themselves. TAMU and Bama deserve the most credit this week but Auburn looked sketchy and afraid.
Its week one killer…. Arizona state looked like a cupcake
I agree Gator, I thought ASU was way overrated to begin with and now, just like last year, we are going to have to hear that A&M is now a playoff contender. A&M is one to talk about scheduling cupcakes. Ole Miss did play Boise St. last yr and will play FSU to open the season next year.
I will give A&M this, atleast their defense looked better.
I agree that their Dline looks better but it was never really the issue…. the secondary is where im not sold even after this win, I want to see the defense hold up against a a proven offense before I believe the hype….and can someone other then Alabama or Auburn please when the west the Championship games are getting boring with the same teams year in and out.
Well said!
It’s also worth noting that both the B1G and ACC went 0-3 against other Power 5 conferences while Penn State and Nebraska were beaten by Temple and BYU respectively. Tomorrow’s OSU-VT game will ensure one of those two conferences go 0-4 opening weekend against other Power 5.
The Big 12 went 1-1, but that one loss was horrendous. Texas looked like a high school team against Notre Dame. I think the shine is off the Charlie Strong hire. Bama may want to begin renegotiating Saban’s contract now. TCU did not impress and Baylor only looked good for a half against what was the worst team in FBS a year ago.
The SEC was hands-down the most impressive conference in week 1. And SEC teams played fewer FCS schools than some other Power 5 conferences.
Nice breakdown.
Since most of the teams played cupcakes, it really does not make much difference how they did. Congrats to the ones that played decent teams and won.
Hey fail state tractor farming rednecks !!!who did yall play mmmmmmmmm let’s see ur sister school usm.hey I heard Prescott was going to be the poster child for Jenny Craig n showing how to n a fat pig n try 2 play qb for a losing bunch of things n tractor farming rednecks !!!!fail state !!!!
Did you even finish kindergarten? You know, a 1-year win streak in the Egg Bowl does not go far.
USM is bad but could probably beat UTM.
And beginning 2017, (18)? Florida opens with Michigan. No More Cupcakes there big boy.
Probably not 18. Arkansas has a home and home with Michigan in 2018 and 2019. But if they do schedule you guys in 18, cudos to them. I don’t think Harbaugh has balls that big though.
Im really looking forward to that game already!!!