The SEC went 16-0 in Week 1 of the season. Sadly, that zero in the loss column will change this weekend. Not only does the first conference game of the season occur in Lexington between Alabama and Kentucky, but Arkansas also exists and will play a Power Four team.
Here’s one thing we want to see from each SEC team this week.
Alabama – Protect Keelon Russell
Russell was pressured 12 times on 38 dropbacks last week against East Carolina. That means he was pressured on 32% of his total dropbacks. None of those resulted in a sack, but that still needs to get cleaned up especially considering he won’t have Alabama’s home crowd at his aid.
Arkansas – Keep it respectable
Utah is 26-6 in their last five seasons at home. That includes one season (2024) where the Utes went 2-4, so they’re essentially 24-2 in the other years. Arkansas struggled at times last weekend, but KJ Jackson did look better than advertised, so hopefully the Hogs can keep it close out in Mormon country.
Auburn – More efficiency from Byrum Brown
The three interceptions weren’t great, but statistically speaking Brown didn’t look that bad on the stat sheet. He ended up with a completion percentage of 74.3% and 259 yards through the air. However, he was one of the only quarterbacks in the league whose completion percentage was higher than his on target accuracy percentage which was third worst in the league at 67.6%.
Florida – More Jadan Baugh
There are probably things that Florida needs to work on, and maybe it makes more sense to get Aaron Philo more work in before the Gators head to Auburn next week. But, allow me to be selfish and ask for more Jadan Baugh. He had 14 carries for 160 yards and three touchdowns and loudly made a case to be in the same air as Kewan Lacy and Ahmad Hardy, a place he already deserved to be.
Georgia – Those white helmets
Georgia is doing two things out of the ordinary this week thanks to their NIL collective, Glory, Glory. One of them is stupid, as they put up a paywall for people to see their hype video of the postgame against Tennessee State last week. The other is pretty cool, as the team will be wearing their all white uniforms and helmets that were made famous by their recruiting pictures.
Kentucky – Making Alabama one dimensional and getting to the Quarterback
We mentioned earlier that Alabama’s offensive line struggled a bit up front against East Carolina. Keelon Russell was scrambling a lot in the first game of the season. Kentucky did only have two sacks last weekend against Youngstown State, but Alabama struggled in the interior up front.
LSU – More efficiency in the passing game
Sam Leavitt had the lowest completion percentage of any quarterback in the SEC last weekend at 57.1%. Now, to be fair that wasn’t his fault, as his pass catchers had four drops which was way too many. The efficiency in the passing game doesn’t all fall on Leavitt, but with such an inspiring Week 1 win already under their belt, it would be great to see LSU look crisp in the passing game before facing an Ole Miss secondary with tons of questions next weekend.
Mississippi State – Nostalgia…and a win
There’s not a lot that can get me to watch Minnesota football unless 1998 Randy Moss is involved. This should be a sneaky good matchup though. The reason you, and everyone else, should watch – besides Kamario Taylor – it’s at 2:30 p.m. central on CBS. That means for at least one day, we get to tune in and hear the old theme music, the old intro, and no Gary Danielson.
Missouri – A win over the worst non-rival
This is one of the most underrated rivalries in all of college athletics. Folks in the Southeast may not get it, but this is basically the Egg Bowl of the Midwest. Tune in for a Tiger win and to hear the student section yell “M-I-Z! F-K-U!” all afternoon long.
Oklahoma – Justice
What happened in Ann Arbor last weekend was an absolute joke. There’s no reason that Michigan is 1-0, and everyone knows it. The Sooners are a 5.5 point favorite right now. SEC fans should hope they win by a million after Michigan cheating scandals resurfaced once again in Week 1.
Ole Miss – Improvement in the secondary
The first regular season game of the Pete Golding era wasn’t without hiccups. One of the biggest hiccups was in the secondary that was torched all night against Louisville. Charlotte should be the perfect “get right” game. Last week they lost to FCS Citadel, and this week they will serve as the tune up for LSU. Not great.
Tennessee – More D-Line domination
Maybe the most shocking stat of the entire Week 1 slate was Tennessee registering six sacks against Furman. That number could’ve been against air, and it would’ve still been impressive. The defensive line may have been the biggest question mark of any unit on the team coming into the season. This week they’ll face a bad Georgia Tech offense in Atlanta.
Texas – Can they lock up Jeremiah Smith again
This will be the third time in three years that these two have met. In the first two games, he had seven receptions for 46 yards combined. Texas’ secondary has six former five stars and Will Muschamp coaching them. It could be another long day.
Texas A&M – Another dominant defensive line performance
The Aggies led the country last week in defensive line tackle share with over 41% of their total tackles coming from the defensive line.
Vanderbilt – Jared Curtis
This doesn’t need to be explained. Make it happen.
