A few observations after the opening weekend

[Po Monkey Lounger]

Going into the weekend (and Thurs night for MSU), I thought that there were really only 3 games in the SEC where the nonSEC opponent would be tough --- LSU v Oregon, UGA v Boise State, and Ole Miss v BYU. The rest of the SEC were playing patsy opponents and would win as expected. Well, the expected wins occurred, but not in the manner expected. Auburn escaped an embarassing season opening loss to Utah State by the skin of its teeth. And South Carolina started out pretty sluggish against East Carolina (although East Carolina may turn out to be one of the better teams in Conf USA), until finally inserting Garcia to get things rolling. Now, on to the 3 games of interest.

UGA v Boise State. I thought UGA might win this one, but Boise State was just a more polished team with more experience on the field. It was just too much for an improved UGA team to overcome in the season opener. But, make no mistake about it, UGA is going to be much better this season than last season. There is very good talent on this UGA team. But, please...please... ace those ugly booty uniforms that made it painful to watch the game ---those uniforms were God awful and an embarassment to the SEC.

LSU v Oregon. I expected LSU to win this one, but not by this large of a margin. Great season opener for LSU, especially in light of LSU's tendancy to get off to slow starts early in the season. The LSU defense looked good as expected. And Lee played very well, distributing the ball to the talented playmakers on offense. The absence of the Shady bunch did not seem to matter, at least in this one.

Ole Miss v BYU. Of course, I was at this one, witnessing the good, bad and the ugly right up close and personal. As I suspected, our Defense is much improved, especially the defensive backfield. And this was a very good test for our pass defense to open the season, as BYU is a program with a history of high octane passing offensive production. Very few of the BYU receivers were ever wide open, and our DBs made some very nice plays to keep them in check throughout the entire game, including a pick 6 for over 90 yards, and not giving up any big plays. If you had told me before the game that we would hold BYU to only one offensive score, but would still lose the game, I would not have believed it. Yet, ..... it happened. The offense, much to my surprise, especially the OL, was simply not very good. I had thought our OL would be good enough to carry our offense early in the season, but they clearly were not. BYU stacked the box on D, pretty much daring us to throw the ball to beat them --- did this the entire game. Even so, our OL should have been able to do a better job opening holes for the running game. Only after the QB change to Stoudt, the better passer of the 3 Rebel QBs, did we show any spark at all on offense. I am not into moral victories. So, the fact that we lost by only 1 is not a comfort --- we SHOULD have won the game. We had them beat. The Rebels had a 13 point lead as late as halfway through the 4th quarter. One more score of any type --- even a field goal --- could have put it away. And the Rebs could not get it done. Special teams were as good as I expected, with the exception that our kickoff coverage could have been better. And we seem to have found a QB that we can build upon in Stoudt. I think that battle is now between Stoudt and Mackey. The Rebels lost RB Brandon Bolden early in the game --- maybe for the season. Huge loss. Also lost RB Enrique Davis ---not sure for how long. Scott left the game with an injury as well (after being slobberknocked and coughing up the ball), but did return. The Rebels will have to regroup with the running game, and will have next week against Southern Illinois to work on it and hopefully improve. The Rebels can win enough games to go bowling this year with the Defensive and Special Teams effort/performance that I saw yesterday. But, we cannot do so with the OL performance I witnessed ---- they have some work to do. We'll see. That loss hurts --- it was one of the 6-7 games that I thought we would have a good chance to win. But, it didn't hurt as bad as the opening season loss to Jacksonville State last year. So, webbie, if you are looking for a moral victory nomination from this opening weekend with respect to Ole Miss, this is mine: At least the Rebels' loss to BYU was not as bad as last year's loss to Jacksonville State. No victory here, and that is about the only "moral victory" that I can come up with after watching a game we clearly should have won. We let the SEC down, as did UGA, in the SEC v Northwest challenge weekend. LSU came through with flying colors.

As a footnote regarding the performance of the Rebels, I did see more slobberknocking hard hits by Rebel defenders and coverage teams yesterday against BYU than I have seen in a long time. I really like to watch physical football --- not dirty and illegal --- but just hard hitting football. That is a good sign for the future of Rebel football ---for the rest of this season and the next (perhaps another "moral victory" nomination, but, I admit, kinda weak).

As far as my preseason forecast, I really have no modifications to it after week one, except to add that it is even less likely now that LSU will "fall apart" sometime during this season --- I just don't see that happening, even with the pre-season distractions and disciplinary attrition. And I think USC's season hinges on the health and play of Garcia --- clearly, without Garcia, even with all their other talent, they are not the same team --- and without Garcia, would have no chance to win the SEC East. I still think UGA will be very good, just as soon as their talented frosh RB gets a few games under his belt. Its hard to say much of anything about MSU, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, UT, or Vandy until they play a decent opponent. We'll know more about the Dogs and the Tide after next weekend. I think the openers for Auburn and UK, at least for now, validate my early forecast for each.

[GordonGekko]

Po Monkey, good insight as usual...I can guarantee you the Richt family and UGA fans are hoping you're right about our team.... Things are nasty in Athens right now. A win Saturday will go a long way, an 0-2 start may seal Richt's fate.

[Po Monkey Lounger]

Well, hopefully the UGA fans are rational enough to understand that an 0-2 start with this year's schedule does not necessarily mean that this season is in the crapper. Opened with Top 5 Boise State, and next Sat playing against SC, the team that many (including me) have picked to win the East, and the overall SEC title.

UGA is used to having a solid running game as part of a balanced offensive attack. They started this season with a highly touted true frosh RB, but short of depth at RB due to some attrition (graduation, disciplinary, etc.). It is unreasonable to expect that this frosh RB will dominate this early --- give him at least 2-3 games.

IF UGA is foolish enough to get rid of Richt, as I have said before, I would take him at Ole Miss in a heartbeat. Nutt would be shown the door faster than a hobo eatin' a baloney sammich (if I were in charge --- which I am not ....yet ).

[GordonGekko]

There is a lot of residual dissatisfaction from having the first losing season in 50 years last year. We are also INCREDIBLY thin at ILB...and that fact that we have scholarships left on the table is causing a bit of ire. We had a walk-on receive significant playing time last Saturday. The call in show was a train wreck tonight....

[webbmaster]

[Deltamud77]

Here are my thoughts:

(1) Mississippi State is very good, probably look as good as I have seen them look since 1998 or so. They play disciplined ball and appear to have playmakers all over the field...teams will have to put a good many points on the board to beat them, no matter who the opponent. Their one weakness appears to be at the LB spot, and in the SEC, that is good for a couple of losses unless they find a solution. One other sort of criticism, Nico Whitley (sp ?) is a human missle of a DB, but he is going to have to learn to wrap up. Trent Richardson will laugh at him right after he runs through one of those lawn-dart type tackles;

(2) Despite the loss, Ole Miss is an improved football team. I thought their defense, by in large, looked really good. The defense was my concern for OM for this year. As a matter of fact, I thought the D would be worse than last year. I think Ole Miss will certainly be in the mix for bowl season...I hate to hear about Bolden, that is a huge loss;

(3) I was completely shocked that LSU was able to shut down Oregon like that. Even during the game, I thought Kelly was rope-a-doping. He wasn't...the LSU defense was just too good. The offense, well, that is another story. I never thought, and still don't think LSU can make it through their first four games undefeated. If they do though, an early November day on the Capstone looms really large and may determine the eventual winner of the SEC.

[eSJay]

Here are my(SEC) opinions after week 1:

1) LSU was easily the most impressive team. If they can find
receivers who can hold onto the ball, they are going to be very tough to beat.

2) Alabama did what they had to do against a very over matched opponent. I'm not sure their game showed much, but who really thought it would? I don't think they really demonstrated they are a great football team. That will come this weekend @ Penn State.

3) USCe without Garcia is a very ordinary team. USC with Garcia is a pretty good team. USC was lucky to recover from the poor start and win,
but they did, and they were impressive in the second half. I still think USC is the team to beat in the East.

4) Arkansas beat a team they should have beaten easily. The Alabama - Arkansas game in a few weeks will go a long way to decide the SEC West.

5) MSU looked very good against a pretty bad Memphis team. I'm not sure they are as good as they looked, but they are certainly good. They are experienced, well coached and talented. I think Relf is a serious threat, and MSU is going to be difficult to beat this weekend.

6) I only watched a little of the UF game, but they looked pretty good.
UF is obviously talented, and their new offense looked like it could be
effective. It looks to me like UF and USCe will battle for the East.

7) UGA is about what I expected. The offense looks pretty much like the
offense last year when it was playing without A. J. Greene. I think Murray is a decent QB, but he didn't get a lot of help. They are going to have to find a running game if their offense is going to be successful, and I didn't see much chance of that Sat night. Crowell may be the future of the UGa offense, but he is definitely the future.
Moore had his way with the UGa defense. He absolutely picked them apart
throwing those short passes and spreading the ball around.
If UGa losses to USC this weekend, Mark Richt will be in trouble (again).

UT - UT beat a team they should have beaten easily. It remains to be seen how good they are.

9) Ole Miss - OK, they lost, but BYU is a pretty good team. I thought OM
played OK & did what they had to do to win the game until the late brain fart. Defense looked much better than 2010. Very unfortunate that they lost 2 RB's. They're gonna need those guys to heal quickly. They also need to decide on a QB. I won't be surprised to hear that the Rev has taken the play calling back over after one week.

10) Auburn - Very lucky to win! The defense was just plain bad. Still not a fan of a Ted Roof Defense! There, I said it....They were out of position, misaligned and looked lost at times. The boys have some growing up to do. It looked like they were a team playing about 3/4 speed. Whether or not the problems on defense can be fixed quickly is a serious question. I think the offense is good enough to win, but the defense is not. We don't play Vandy or UK this year, so right now it looks like winning an SEC game will be difficult. Of course, the defense will get better. It's just a question of how fast. I like our kicking game & hope we can keep some games close enough to reap the benefits of said kicking game.

11) Vandy - Vandy is Vandy, but I really like their coach. They may sneak up on someone.

12) UK - Bad. Simply bad. Not sure what else to say.

[SWAG]

My two cents:

ARK A
Bama A
MSU A
LSU A+
AU C
UM C
UF A
USC B-
UT A
KY B-
UGA C-
Vandy A