The slate was incredible. The results, at least for the Southeastern Conference, were not. Fans, pundits, and analysts spend nine months every offseason talking themselves into what they want to believe about the upcoming season. For some, Week 1 delivered quite a bit of confirmation bias, but as we often learn from week-to-week college football is unpredictable. Beliefs that we knew were concrete truths a week ago can be fractured and shaken in just seven days.
That was the theme for Week 2 in the SEC.
LSU looking ahead?
Last week LSU looked like the best team in America. Months of anticipation that continued to build steam almost exponentially during the final weeks of the offseason, culminated with a 51-10 dismantling of Clemson. All the pain and frustration of Joe Sloan and Brian Kelly’s offenses disappeared after Lane Kiffin and Charlie Weis Jr’s clinic they put on in Week 1.
This week’s game against Louisiana Tech tried to replicate the same feel before kickoff. Lil Wayne and Boosie escorted the team down Victory Hill, and Kiffin broke out the purple jerseys. However, despite the stat sheet looking impressive, the first half finished with LSU leading just 10-7. Not exactly the same vibes for a team that looked like a national title contender just seven days ago.
Good. Let the overreactions pour in. The lack of offensive fireworks and points on the scoreboard will get most of the headlines for people preying on Kiffin and the Tigers’ downfall. And, way down at the bottom in the fine print they might mention that for the second week in a row defensive coordinator Blake Baker scared the bejeezus out of the opposing offense. Through three quarters LSU held Louisiana Tech to 13 yards on 54 plays including miunus-20 yards rushing on 21 attempts.
Next week can’t get here soon enough. And, now Kiffin can remind his team that the week’s worth of praise they were given after the Clemson game was actually rat poison.
3 Things we aren’t talking enough about…
1. Georgia
That seems insane considering they’ve won three of the last four SEC Championships and are currently ranked in the top five. But, somehow head coach Kirby Smart’s bunch has gone largely unnoticed through two weeks of the season. That may be because of the competition they’ve played, but if you want to sleep on the Bulldogs because “they haven’t played anybody” do it at your own risk.
We’ve seen this story before, and it doesn’t usually end well for anyone not wearing red, black, and silver britches. The Bulldogs have outscored their opponents by 110 points in the first two games of this season. They’ve outgained their opponents by 819 yards. Gunner Stockton twice as many touchdowns (8) as he does incompletions (4).
2. Mississippi State
Not just Kamario Taylor, but Mississippi State as a whole. We should talk more about Taylor, too because he’s showing more and more that he’s not just a good quarterback on a bad team. He’s a really good quarterback on a really underrated team people continue to overlook. The Bulldogs went to Minnesota to face a Power Four non-conference opponent on Saturday. The betting line fluctuated between 1.5 on both sides all week long. It closed in favor of the Bulldogs by a single point.
Ha.
Mississippi State trounced Minnesota from the opening whistle scoring on their first four drives and taking a 28-6 lead to halftime. The offensive trio of Anthony Evans, Taylor, and running back Fluff Bothwell put up video-game numbers once again, but the real story was Zac Arnett’s defense. The Bulldogs held Minnesota to 13 yards rushing on 15 carries, and stifled the Gophers all day. Minnesota’s offense had nine possessions, and seven of those ended in a punt or turnover on downs. The only touchdown State surrendered was after a fumble in the endzone that Minnesota recovered for a touchdown.
3. Alabama’s Defense
Alabama has a lot of concerns, but most of those are on the offensive side of the ball. They did everything a team on the road with a first-year starter at quarterback shouldn’t do in the first 30 minutes at Kentucky. Ryan Grubb, the offensive coordinator, routinely put his quarterback in bad situations, and refused to grasp the concept that his defense was good enough to win a football game if you just give them a chance.
That means not having turnovers, negative plays, and countless procedure penalties.
Alabama played about as bad of a first half as they could have and they still won by 28. That was thanks to a defense that held the Wildcats to 2.38 yards per play, 0.17 rush yards per attempt, and zero third down conversions in the second half. In fact, they held Kentucky to 1-of-14 on third downs all game, and that’s the only conversion they’ve allowed this season (of 23 total). The secondary for Alabama was supposed to be the strength of the unit after returning every key piece from last season. The front seven however, was the opposite losing six of seven starters. Still, this unit has been one of the most dominant in the country through two games, and should be a huge help in bringing along Keelon Rusell until he finds his footing as a starter in this league.
