For a conference that is supposedly in decline and vastly overrated, the SEC had a pretty good first week of college football.
When the SEC West went 2-5 in last year's bowl season, it was easy and predictable that those with axes to grind would pounce, calling the division overrated.
Outside of lopsided losses by Ole Miss and Mississippi State, the West was just a few plays away from going 5-2.
The SEC East went 5-0 in bowl games, helping the SEC tie its own record for the most bowl wins by any conference in history. Change three plays and the league would have gone 10-2.
After all, didn’t we hear all spring and summer about how the SEC West was exposed in the most recent bowl season (with a 2-5 record)? The SEC went 12-1 last week, with the lone loss belonging to pitiful Vanderbilt. (LSU’s game was canceled).
Included in those 12 wins were four victories against big five conference opponents, all on neutral fields. Even more impressive was the way several teams with lingering questions answered the call against tough competition.
It’s early, but it appears Texas A&M is much improved on defense. Just ask the then-No. 15 Sun Devils of Arizona State.
The Aggies held their high-flying offense to just 291 yards, notched 14 tackles for loss and sacked quarterback Mike Bercovici nine times. Yep, the same ASU team picked by some, including Kirk Herbstreit, to win the Pac-12 and advance to the College Football Playoffs.
If this trend continues for A&M, it appears first-year defensive coordinator John Chavis is well worth his $1.3 million salary.
Alabama soundly defeated Wisconsin, 35-17, the defending Big Ten West champions. The Badgers managed a mere 40 rushing yards on 21 tries.
SEC teams defeated two high-profile teams from the ACC (Auburn over Louisville and South Carolina over North Carolina).
Last week, the Big Ten went 4-6 against FBS opponents, 8-6 if you count FCS wins. So nearly half the conference lost in the opening weekend.
The Pac 12, the new challenger to the SEC’s reign as top conference, was even worse considering expectations entering the season, going just 7-5.
The SEC, now with a record 10 teams in the Associated Press top 25 poll, will lose some of its momentum Saturday when No. 23 Tennessee and No. 25 Mississippi State fall out with home losses.
Look for No. 19 Oklahoma to beat the Vols, and No. 15 LSU to defeat MSU. The Bulldogs got quite a bump in the polls for a harder-than-expected road win against Southern Mississippi, which has won four games in the past three seasons.
