After week one, the SEC has made quite an impact on the college football world. The conference went 12-1 and placed 10 teams in the AP Top 25 (we have eight in our poll). With the SEC flying high, let’s take a look at the biggest questions in the SEC coming out of week one….
Is Texas A&M for real?
Last season, the Aggies opened with a blowout at South Carolina. This year they beat Arizona State by 21 points. Both performance were very impressive. In 2014, the Aggies couldn’t live up to their week one performance as they folded during the heart of their conference schedule. Will it be different this time around?
Defensive coordinator John Chavis has been successful everywhere he’s been. In Chavis, the Aggies have a proven commodity at defensive coordinator. With him comes hope. The next two weeks should see the Aggies coast. Then comes the test. The play Arkansas, Mississippi State, Alabama, Ole Miss, South Carolina and Auburn in back-to-back weeks with only one bye.
Is Derrick Henry the best running back in college football?
This years crop of college football running backs is tremendous. Ezekiel Elliott, Nick Chubb and Leonard Fournette are just three of the great players at the position. On Saturday, Henry stood out as a man among boys. He also showed that he might be the best player in college football.
Henry looks to be in fantastic shape and showed off his jets by leaving several Wisconsin players in his dust on multiple plays. Maybe my SEC Heisman predictions weren’t so crazy after all….
Is Tennessee’s defense good enough to help them compete in the SEC East?
After week one, the Vols have (statistically) have the worst defense in the league. They gave up 557 yards to Bowling Green. 433 of those yards came through the air. We will find out the answer to this question pretty quickly. On Saturday, Oklahoma is coming to town. I’m pretty sure I saw Baker Mayfield licking his lips with the thought of facing the Vols pass defense.
How much will the cancelled “warm up” game hurt LSU?
If one team in the SEC needed a “warm up” game more than any other, it was LSU (or Florida). LSU has a ton of questions on offense and they are also replacing their defensive coordinator (John Chavis).
LSU must now step straight into a game with Mississippi State. Unlike LSU, State was able to work out some hiccups in their opener. Going on the road to play Mississippi State is a really difficult match-up for any team. Playing them in your opener with big question marks around the field could be a disaster.
Is Jeremy Johnson going to be okay?
The SEC had a ton of quarterback questions heading into week one. Auburn didn’t appear to be one of the teams in question. Jeremy Johnson was considered one of the best QBs in the league. Many bought into the hype, including me.
After an 11-21, three interception performance many have been left scratching their head. Did Johnson just have a bad game? Did he buy into his off-season hype too much? Is he just not that good? Is he a bad fit for Malzahn’s offense?
I think Johnson will be fine. He won’t be the superstar that some expected but he will play better than his game against the Cardinals. Let him get a few more games under his belt and then we will start to see what Jeremy Johnson is really all about.
