Week 1 SEC Game Thread and Predictions

[BullsFan_1]

Thursday, September 1

8:00 PM #20 Mississippi State @ Memphis

9:15 PM Kentucky vs. Western Kentucky*

Saturday, September 3

12:00 PM Utah State @ #23 Auburn

12:20 PM ESPN3.com Kent State @ #2 Alabama

4:45 PM Brigham Young @ Ole Miss

6:00 PM ESPN3.com Montana @ Tennessee

7:00 PM Florida Atlantic @ #22 Florida

7:00 PM ESPN3.com Missouri State @ #15 Arkansas

7:00 PM ESPN3.com East Carolina vs. #12 South Carolina*

7:30 PM ESPN3.com Elon @ Vanderbilt

8:00 PM #5 Boise State @ #19 Georgia

8:00 PM #3 Oregon vs. #4 LSU*

[Catfish1314]

Agree with all of those picks, except maybe Georgia-Boise. The Dawgs are being somewhat overrated heading into the season, at least as far as the polls go (ahead of Florida and MSU, who both beat them last year), but I like their chances in this game. Richt has talked about the importance of getting Georgia back in the national picture, so I think they'll come out and empty the playbook. Fake punts, trick plays, whatever it takes to win the game and get people outside of Georgia talking about the Bulldogs again.

I also think Georgia has a better chance in this game than LSU has in the Oregon game.

[jEtS60]

looks like Auburn lost

[BroadwayJoe]

looks like Auburn lost

don't speak too soon!

i was happy to see the musCHAMP era begin in competent fashion. unlike last year's opener where dickface addazio couldn't call a smart play to save his life, weis had the offense clicking both on the ground and in the air (granted, it was against FAU, not an SEC defense). as the season progresses, i'd like to see brantley get better timing with his receivers... however (and this is contrary to my belief with almost any other team), i don't mind him dumping off to his running back in the flat because demps and rainey are just beastly playmakers, so get them the damn ball as often as possible, even if it's a 3-yard dump-off play that gets extended for a first and more.

[Catfish1314]

don't speak too soon!

i was happy to see the musCHAMP era begin in competent fashion. unlike last year's opener where dickface addazio couldn't call a smart play to save his life, weis had the offense clicking both on the ground and in the air (granted, it was against FAU, not an SEC defense). as the season progresses, i'd like to see brantley get better timing with his receivers... however (and this is contrary to my belief with almost any other team), i don't mind him dumping off to his running back in the flat because demps and rainey are just beastly playmakers, so get them the damn ball as often as possible, even if it's a 3-yard dump-off play that gets extended for a first and more.

I actually think they got the ball a little too much. That's the kind of involvement they need against Tennessee, Alabama, LSU, etc. Not Florida Atlantic. Mike Gillislee is either in the doghouse or he had a very underwhelming training camp.

Meanwhile the downfield blocking is already sooooooooo much better than last year. If Aubrey Hill has taught the receivers anything, it's how to block.

[steelcityroller]

Miss State 59 Memphis 14
Kentucky 14 West Kentucky 3
Auburn 42 Utah State 38
Alabama 42 Kent State 7
BYU 14 Ole Miss 13
Tennessee 42 Montana 16
South Carolina 56 East Carolina 37
Arkansas 51 Missouri State 7
Florida 41 Florida Atlantic 3
Vanderbilt 45 Elon 14
LSU 40 Oregon 27
Boise State 35 Georgia 21

Just some things that stood out to me

- Miss State looked really good. They may be that team to step up big this year.

- Kentucky and Vanderbilt both were unimpressive against small teams. I know they aren't the cream of the crop in the SEC but still they should be able to handle Western Kentucky and Elon.

Kentucky had 33 carries for 46 yards and were 7-18 for 97 yards and 3 interceptions passing against Western Kentucky. I can't imagine how they will look against SEC teams.

Then you look at Vanderbilt and see that they won 45-14 but it they scored 21 garbage points. They had a defensive touchdown and had two more scoring drives where they pretty much started in the red zone. For the game they were outgained by Elon.

- Auburn clearly didn't look so hot but it may be okay. Utah State is a small school but here recently they have given several big teams heartburn last year they done the same thing to Oklahoma and the year before that beat BYU and almost beat Texas A&M.

- The Boise State vs Georgia game went almost exactly as I expected as Boise State was underrated and Georgia is overrated both of which happen almost every year. Boise State is a top 5 team that steps it up big time when they get to play the big programs. Then Georgia chokes and that has been a knock on Richt.

- I honestly didn't expect LSU to beat Oregon. Maybe LSU is better than I give them credit this year.

- Alabama looked about right all things considered with new players.

- Tennessee looked about right as well and importantly Tyler Bray and the passing game looked good with about 300 yards passing.

- Ive heard people ripping on the SEC because Ole Miss lost to BYU. BYU is a better program than Ole Miss they should win that game. However Ole Miss had it won and gave it away they were winning 13-0 in the 4th quarter and fumbled away the game winning score.

- South Carolina showed a great deal of inconsistency as they shuffled through quarterbacks. It was a tale of two halves as South Carolina got beat in the 1st half and then put up 42 points in the 2nd half.

- Arkansas didn't have much trouble against Missouri State which is to be expected but Wilson looked good at quarterback.

- Florida looked pretty good against Florida Atlantic but I don't like that they threw 3 interceptions.

[DamnGoat]

Most impressive win has to be LSU over Oregon. I thought they'd have a hard time scoring with Oregon, but not so much.

I said it in another thread, but Auburn's gonna have a rough season. They'll be lucky to win 7-8 games with their schedule. They got some breaks yesterday (like they did all of last season), but when their competition gets tougher they'll get beat and beat badly rather than lucking into wins again. They just have too many issues this year to be considered any kind of a threat in a loaded conference.

The rest of the games went as expected other than maybe SC, but they did turn it on in that 2nd half. They should be one of the better teams in the conference still.