1) Defense (for the most part) carried the day. Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Mississippi State all held their opposition under ten points. Florida only gave up twelve and their defense stepped up big in the game against Miami (OHIO). Of course, we have to take all of this with a grain of salt. All of these teams played 1-AA or lower 1-A teams. Still, for teams like Tennessee, Arkansas, and Georgia, these games had to be a true sign of optimism. Georgia was really flying to the ball well. Derek Dooley and Justin Wilcox had Tennessee moving as well. Kentucky and Vanderbilt also played extremely well. I think the East will be a lot stronger on the defensive side of the ball than people think. Again though, let's not get too carried away. The next two weeks should tell us a lot more.
2) So far, so good with the new coaches and coordinators. It was one hell of a weekend for the new coaches and coordinators around the league. Teryl Austin's defense at Florida was stout. They had two sacks and four interceptions on route to a 34-12 win. Derek Dooley did a tremendous job with Tennessee this weekend. A shutout was just what the doctor ordered for UT. They played hard and Matt Simms looked very poised out there. Oregon will be a great test for them. Joker Phillips had his Kentucky team ready to play and confirmed what I already suspected: Kentucky will be a force in the East. Manny Diaz was a great hire by Dan Mullen and Miss. State. They had two interceptions and gave up only 237 yards to what could be a potent Memphis team. Finally, hats off to Todd Grantham and his new 3-4 at UGA. I was in Athens for the game and it's been years since I have seen the UGA defense look that good. Grantham got the crowd fired up when he was screaming his head off at ULL's touchdown pass. Again though, a lot more will be learned over the next two weeks.
3) I may have been wrong about LSU. Going into this season, I picked LSU to win the West. However, after watching them against a depleted UNC team the other night, there is a lot to question about LSU. Granted, UNC is well-coached and full of talent. Still, there is no excuse for LSU to come out and play the way they did in the second half. They had no heart and played with zero intensity. They almost (and should have) lost that game after leading 30-10 at halftime. UNC dropped several would-be touchdown passes in the game. LSU played soft all game on defense and offense. I swear, the more I look back at the 2007 BCS team, I believe that was still Nick Saban's influence more than Les Miles'. He is going to have to do some real coaching with his team if they are going to compete and win the West. Another 8-4 season will not sit well with the LSU faithful, but that effort the other night will produce that type of result.
4) Florida may be ranked too high. Back in 2007, I remember Florida opening the season at #3 in the country. This coming after they lost a lot on defense and Chris Leak. They ended up losing four games that year. I have said all along that this could be a similar year. Well, Florida did nothing the other day to show me I was wrong. Now, I know this is the first game and that Urban Meyer is not to be doubted, but they left a lot to be desired against Miami (OHIO). They botched about 13 snaps and really struggled on offense and special teams. Those are two things you would not expect from and Urban Meyer team. Now, I will point out that Florida has struggled on offense early in the season the last two years and they seemed to be able to rebound quite well. I am sure they will do it again this year. However, with the way South Carolina and Georgia played Saturday, the East appears to be even more wide open.
5) Ole Miss needs to gets its head on straight. Whether you are an all-around SEC fan or not, I am sure we can all agree that this was an embarrassing loss not only for Ole Miss, but for the entire conference. I know Ole Miss is supposed to be down a little this year, but there is no excuse for that kind of a meltdown against an FCS team at home. Houston Nutt needs to get his team straight or this could really have ramifications. Giving up 49 points is bad enough for a team where defense was supposed to be the strength, but to do it the way they did was even more pathetic. I expect Ole Miss to rebound from this and start playing better. They, like LSU, need to realize that you have to play the second half as well. Still, Nutt and Nix are too good of coaches to let this team slide.
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