Arkansas: The offense showed diversity without giving too much away for Georgia to study. Both Mallett and Wilson looked like top-flight SEC quarterbacks. The offensive line continues to come together, but they must get better in goal line situations. Wright, Adams, and Childs must step up now that Crawford is down for the foreseeable future. Michael Smith has plenty of help in the backfield. Wingo looked terrific, and Green will help a lot between the tackles.
The defense is definitely better than 2008 but still needs work. The line play was outstanding, but the linebackers need to tackle better. Once you get past the first team DBs, the lack of experience shows quickly. John L. Smith still has his hands full will the special teams, but it looks like the kick return unit is ready to play. Hopefully they won’t be used too often, though.
Alabama: This team has a lot of guts and grit. I love McElroy as a breakout SEC player (a la Jevan Snead from 2008). Ingram is as tough a back as you will find in the league, and Upchurch is a great compliment. Jones and Maze are two reliable wideouts, and that offensive line looks much better than expected given all the retooling that happened since the Sugar Bowl.
The Bama defense will be hard to beat. Bad luck and bad special teams led to more than half of Virginia Tech’s points. They bottled up Tyrod Taylor and provided key stops in the 4th quarter. Just a great performance overall by a very, very good football team.
Auburn: Lots of folks called for the upset, but Auburn stood tall. The offense is a work in progress but good enough to beat most non-SEC teams. Chizik has his fingerprints all over the Tiger defense. They played fast and aggressive, looking a lot like the Auburn defenses we’ve grown accustomed to seeing. The Tigers offense will continue to grow. The 93-yard TD pass play from Todd to Zachery shows just how explosive this team can been.
Florida: We know nothing more today than we did on Friday. Florida is really good. After Troy took a humiliating loss this past weekend, I’m not sure we’ll know much at all until the Tennessee game. Not much other than that this team is exceptionally talented.
Georgia: The Bulldogs failed to score on 11 consecutive possessions. Even a strength of the team — the offensive line — looked weak at times. Losing Sturdivant again could prove fatal for the Bulldogs. The defense looked much better, though, slowing down one of the nation’s best offenses. A tough test comes next week against South Carolina. The mental state of this team may be the biggest hurdle for Richt to overcome.
Kentucky: Rich Brooks appears to have found some answers offensively. Mike Hartline handled himself well in Cincinnati, but Randall Cobb was the star. Miami (OH) may not be the stiffest of tests, but the Wildcats shut out an opponent at a neutral site. It looks like Brooks has another bowl team on his hands.
LSU: If you stayed up to watch the late night game in Seattle, you caught a very entertaining matchup. My biggest takeaway is that John Chavis still has a long way to go. Washington carved LSU putting up 478 yards of total offense — compared to LSU’s 321. Jordan Jefferson showed great leadership, though, completing his third TD pass of the night late in the fourth quarter to lock up the win. Regardless of how it looked, LSU traveled cross country to a very hostile environment and won the football game.
Mississippi State: I watched a good bit of this game, and I was impressed with how the offense continued to grind. After one quarter, there were far more questions than answers. But Coach Mullen’s crew fought its way to an impressive win. The defense looked solid as ever. Mississippi State may have a little more fight in them than we first believed. Time will tell when the competition level increases.
Mississippi: The Rebels were very sluggish to start, but they eventually pulled away from an overmatched Memphis squad on Sunday. Jevan Snead padded his stats late in the fourth quarter but looked pretty average thru most of the game. McCluster is very impressive and electric. The defense was fast and strong, looking more like the strength of the Rebels than the more talked about offense. The road trip to South Carolina looks more and more like a huge game in the SEC that most people overlooked in the pre-season.
South Carolina: As we mentioned Thursday night, I was very impressed with the defense. Ellis Johnson is a top-flight coordinator, which is why Bobby Petrino hired him in the first place. Too bad he got away. The d-backs were the biggest concern defensively entering the season, and Lorenzo Ward (another former Hogs coach) had them prepared. The key now is whether or not USC can muster enough offense to win important conference games. We’ll find out soon as they head to Georgia this weekend.
Tennessee: Let’s not break out the bubbly just yet. Their performance against Western Kentucky was very impressive, but WKU projects as one of the 5 worst teams in America. That said, Tennessee looked awfully good. Monte Kiffin’s defense was a brick wall. And Jonathan Crompton lit it up, tossing five touchdown passes. Most impressive, though, was the play of the UT freshmen.
Vanderbilt: How long has it been since Vandy shut out an opponent? How about 10 years. It’s rarely news when an SEC team lights up an FCS opponent, but it is of note when the Commodores get it done. For years we have grown accustomed to Vandy struggling through these types of games. Not anymore. They look like an SEC team, and I assure you that offensive display has got the attention of LSU.
