First impressions from Week 1 in the SEC

ScionOfSouthland

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Posted the totals in the FSU thread, but figured you might enjoy them here as well:
1-0 Mid American Conference
1-1 Sun Belt
1-1 Conference USA
2-0 Pac 12
0-1 Big 12
0-1 Big 10
1-2 ACC

6-6 overall, 3-4 P5

Here's an article you might also like:

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http://furtherreview.blog.myajc.com/2016/09/04/first-impressions-from-week-one-in-sec/

Six quick first impressions of the 2016 SEC:

1. One more weekend like this and the “Make the SEC Great Again” hat and bumper sticker will become a regular part of the landscape.

The September match-ups had a Bowl Week feel to them, and the (debatably) best conference in the land did not step up, going 6-5 in interconference games – with one more loss pending Monday night when Ole Miss faces FSU.

One member – Mississippi State – loses as a four-touchdown favorite to South Alabama while another – Kentucky – blows a 25-point lead to lose to Southern Miss. When do we start criticizing those Sun Belt and Conference USA teams for not scheduling tougher opponents early in the season?

2. Once more on the tightrope for LSU’s Les Miles, now trying to balance the great weight of an uninspired loss to unranked Wisconsin along with all the other accumulated baggage.

Even he, the most skilled wire-walker of them all, the Great Wallenda of coaches, must lose to gravity eventually. The lone memorable moment of his team’s trip to Lambeau Field: An after-the-whistle tackle by an offensive lineman following a game-cinching interception. Gonna be tough to set that one to inspiring music use it as the lead-in to the 2016 highlight video.

If Miles makes it through to 2017 we can declare him officially as indestructible as the plastic milk jug.

3. Georgia may have entered the first weekend greatly underestimated in the East. But it exited one of the favorites.

A complete one-day makeover. Botox should work so fast. Tennessee pulls a horseshoe out of its end(zone) to beat App State. And Florida loses style points with a messy win over UMass. Kirby Smart mustn’t allow his team to catch wind of either of those results, lest his players turn smug and insufferable and begin wearing dinner jackets on game day.

4. The SEC is so top-heavy at the moment that it may fall over by Halloween.

It is like the college freshman’s food pyramid – completely upside down.

Alabama only seemed to separate itself more from the rest of the conference this weekend, leaving the rest of us behind on the dock, waving to this cruise ship as it slips over the horizon. Bless the Crimson Tide, for it keeps the SEC relevant.

5. Why, shockingly, it turns out you can spell “success” without the SEC.

This is going to take some getting used to. Humility becomes no one in this part of the college football world. It is as foreign a concept to the southern soul as is vegetarianism.

6. But it could be worse.

You could be a follower of the Pac-12.
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You know what's sad? They went 6-6 and they're more than likely going to have 7 teams in the polls.
 
The Gamecocks should be ranked after their huge victory against a tough SEC opponent ON THE ROAD, no less.
/s

Also, Tennessee showed tremendous poise in the face of adversity by beating the SAME team that beat Michigan in The Big House in 2007. That takes guts.
 
How many times in the first half did the guys reference Ole Miss' speed and how the speed was just too much...I guess they slowed down in the second half.
 
No excuses here. SEC is down, and here's the reason: quarterback. It's inexplicable. Worst quarterback league in football, possibly--the struggling Kelly you saw with Ole Miss is supposedly the BEST. 2013 was the year of the "M" quarterbacks--Manziel, McCarron, Murray, Mettenburger, plus I think one or two others (Connor Shaw was decent for example--he'd be top-rated this year). Bama looks good so far, no one else looks like a contender at all. Teams like LSU and Tennessee dropped like flies in the polls this week. I think there are other reasons for the SEC not living up to the hype, but QB is the most obvious.
 
SEC had that 7 title run that got them everything. Nick Saban won five titles in the SEC since 2013. He left behind such a juggernaut at LSU that Les Miles managed to win a title. A guy named Urban Meyer won it twice, as well. No surprise that Meyer leaves for Ohio State and they almost immediately win a title. Chizik at Auburn was a combo of Malzahn being pretty good at calling plays and Cam Newton being a freak of nature. Three (two really) coaches, a quarterback, and four schools between them. The rest of the conference has been riding the coattails of this glorious convergence the entire time. Meyer is gone, Miles can't sustain Saban's magic, Malzahn can't find the next Cam Newton, and so the myth is revealed. SEC pays so much money for coaches they can have any they want, the problem is they just don't make many Sabans and Meyers. The SEC probably won't get 'back up' the way it was for a long time, if it ever does.
 
SEC had that 7 title run that got them everything. Nick Saban won five titles in the SEC since 2013. He left behind such a juggernaut at LSU that Les Miles managed to win a title. A guy named Urban Meyer won it twice, as well. No surprise that Meyer leaves for Ohio State and they almost immediately win a title. Chizik at Auburn was a combo of Malzahn being pretty good at calling plays and Cam Newton being a freak of nature. Three (two really) coaches, a quarterback, and four schools between them. The rest of the conference has been riding the coattails of this glorious convergence the entire time. Meyer is gone, Miles can't sustain Saban's magic, Malzahn can't find the next Cam Newton, and so the myth is revealed. SEC pays so much money for coaches they can have any they want, the problem is they just don't make many Sabans and Meyers. The SEC probably won't get 'back up' the way it was for a long time, if it ever does.
Plus they got some huge breaks in the BCS draw.
 
How many times in the first half did the guys reference Ole Miss' speed and how the speed was just too much...I guess they slowed down in the second half.

I don't know. How many times?

Course, doesn't matter now that the rest of the season can be cancelled
 
The SEC is good for exactly 2 reasons. 1) they have more sidewalk fans which = more money. 2) they have no academic standards which = stud DLs. Literally this is what separates them. And there's not much separation in reality - there hasn't been really ever. Just a perfect storm of Saban going to a school that not only has no academic standards, but has neighboring states' police covering for them and the NCAA turning a blind eye. Bama has been carrying the SEC for a decade. The SEC East has been maybe the worst division in P5 since Meyer left yet UGA/UF/the rest get credit for playing a "tough schedule."

Hell, swap us and UGA and Tech probably had more SEC East titles than ACC Coastal titles since CPJ got here.
 
I wonder if many of the most promising QB prospects are now actively shunning the SEC to avoid the "two elephants wrestling in a phone booth" style of play that seems to be au courant therein?
 
I have heard for years how the SEC had the greatest coaches. In week one, almost every coach not named Saban got flat out, out-coached. If you have the best talent money can buy and get knocked around by less talent, then maybe something is wrong in Mudville.
 
I have heard for years how the SEC had the greatest coaches. In week one, almost every coach not named Saban got flat out, out-coached. If you have the best talent money can buy and get knocked around by less talent, then maybe something is wrong in Mudville.

Other than Saban and Meyer the SEC has had mostly average to below average coaches. I also think Dan Mullen has done a good job.
 
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