Ranking the Best SEC Matchups of Week 2
The first week of the college football season is in the books, and just one SEC program found its way into the loss column—a Vanderbilt team that (not surprisingly) squandered away several opportunities in a 14-12 setback to Western Kentucky.
While the league may not wind up having the nation's best team, it again is flexing its muscle as the country's deepest. When the Associated Press' Top 25 poll came out Tuesday, it featured 10 conference schools.
Alabama, Auburn and Georgia lead the pack, all sticking around in the Top 10. A rousing victory by Texas A&M over Arizona State helped the Aggies catapult into the rankings at No. 16.
Several others are sprinkled throughout the polls.
Before the huge Week 3 that will feature some of the best marquee matchups of the early season, everybody has to wade through another Saturday full of mostly lopsided, expected outcomes.
Despite the slim slate, there are a few quality games, including three conference battles in LSU-Mississippi State, Kentucky-South Carolina and Georgia-Vanderbilt.
Then there's a much-anticipated out-of-conference, prime-time showdown that will have the nation's attention Saturday night.
So, without further ado, taking into account the level of each involved team, national and conference importance and the competitiveness of the matchup, let's rank this week's games involving SEC teams.
11. Jacksonville State at Auburn
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Auburn had immense expectations heading into the season, thanks largely in part to the hiring of defensive coordinator Will Muschamp to shore up a porous defense from a season ago.
During last week's 31-24 win over Louisville to start the season, the Tigers looked like they'd gone a long way toward addressing that issue.
While quarterback Jeremy Johnson finished with a worrisome three interceptions, AU found a quality running back in Peyton Barber, and he wasn't even one of the two that fans have been buzzing about throughout the offseason.
Coach Gus Malzahn's offense hasn't been an issue in his tenure, so the Tigers figure to straighten that out, and this week would be a good time to start.
Even though coach John Grass' Gamecocks are far from a pushover as an FCS powerhouse, they've got no business hanging with AU on the Plains. Last week's huge 23-20 win over Chattanooga in a battle of Top-10 programs pushed Jacksonville State up to sixth nationally.
But there's a huge difference in No. 6 in the FCS poll and No. 6 in the Associated Press poll reserved for FBS teams—and that's the position currently held by Auburn.
The Tigers should win handily against their in-state younger brother.
10. Ball State at Texas A&M
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The only real worry for Texas A&M coming off Week 1's 38-17 thumping of then-15th-ranked Arizona State is whether the Aggies will be hungover from that emotional high.
The Cardinals shouldn't pose much of a threat, especially considering they barely disposed of VMI 48-36 in the opener.
While all those points look nice on paper, A&M's defense is a far cry from VMI's. As a matter of fact, if one game is any indication, the Aggies under new coordinator John Chavis are vastly improved from what they were a season ago.
Playing mostly nickel sets against the pass-happy Sun Devils, they allowed just 291 total yards.
Those A&M defensive backs received a boost from star defensive end Myles Garrett, who was in the ASU backfield all night, finishing with two sacks, 2.5 for a loss, forcing a fumble and three QB hurries.
On the flip side, true freshman receiver Christian Kirk was a revelation, returning a kick 79 yards for a touchdown and catching six passes for 106 yards and another score.
With numbers like that, coach Kevin Sumlin has to be excited about his team's potential, and this should be the second of three tuneups before a Sept. 26 battle against Arkansas kicks off conference play.
Ball State may wind up OK in the MAC, but it may get ugly quickly on Saturday.
9. Middle Tennessee at Alabama
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Steve Spurrier disciple and Middle Tennessee coach Rick Stockstill may have a mid-major juggernaut on his hands. It certainly looked like he could after the Blue Raiders' dismantled FCS opponent Jackson State 70-14.
This week's opponent will be about as far away from the Tigers as you can get, however.
MTSU heads to Tuscaloosa to take on second-ranked Alabama, who is fresh off a 35-17 one-sided win over Wisconsin in Week 1's showcase game.
That game belonged to junior running back Derrick Henry (13 carries, 147 yards, three touchdowns) and the Crimson Tide's defensive line, a multiple, cohesive, talented unit that absolutely terrorized the Badgers and took over the football game.
FoxSports.com's Bruce Feldman raved about Henry, putting him second on his way-too-early Heisman Trophy look: "Wisconsin’s had a lot of good backs over the past decade, but the Badgers had to deal with a special one Saturday night," he wrote.
Perhaps most encouraging for UA was that its two quarterbacks—Jake Coker and Cooper Bateman—performed admirably. Coker completed 15 of 21 passes for 213 yards and a score, while Bateman completed all but one of his eight passes for 51 yards in a reserve role.
Alabama will use this game to polish various areas and look at a variety of personnel leading into a massive SEC West battle against Ole Miss at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Week 3.
As for the Blue Raiders, they'll just try to escape with an abundance of positives and no injuries. They could win a lot of games this season, but Saturday won't be one of them.
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8. Fresno State at Ole Miss
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There's not much to say about the 76-3 thumping that Ole Miss administered to a hapless UT-Martin team during the opening weekend except thank God for the Skyhawks it's over.
The last time the Rebels beat anybody like that, it was 92-0 in 1935 against somebody named West Tennessee Teachers (now Union College).
Even defensive end Robert Nkemdiche got in on the action, catching (that's right: catching) a 31-yard pass from Ryan Buchanan and surging to the end zone for his first career touchdown.
Now, the No. 17 Rebels will turn their attention to Fresno State, an opponent that should provide a little more of a test and a gauge to see just where Ole Miss really is at this juncture of the season.
All three quarterbacks played exceptionally well against just a little more resistance than air on Saturday, led by JUCO transfer Chad Kelly, who completed nine of 15 passes for 211 yards and two touchdowns.
Fresno, meanwhile, beat Abilene Christian by a modest score of 34-13 during Week 1, so it's difficult to tell just how good the Bulldogs are going to be this year.
Regardless, they shouldn't be able to hang with Ole Miss and its stingy "Landsharks" defense.
Everybody will get to see a little more of what the Rebels can do as their final tuneup before heading to Tuscaloosa for one of the biggest early-season tilts of the season when they try to duplicate last year's upset of the Crimson Tide.
7. Missouri at Arkansas State
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It may seem a little odd that Missouri will be traveling to Centennial Bank Stadium in Jonesboro, Arkansas, to take on the Red Wolves, but that's what coach Gary Pinkel's Tigers are facing this weekend.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch writer Dave Matter wrote this week that while Mizzou hoped ASU would move the game to a neutral site, the Red Wolves declined, "wanting to use the game to showcase their newly renovated stadium, which seats 30,406, the smallest Mizzou will play this season."
Intimate, partisan crowds aren't always good news for the visitors, and the Red Wolves have played in four consecutive bowl games, so they're no slouch. But coach Blake Anderson's team is coming off a 55-6 whipping at the hands of eighth-ranked USC.
They'll fare much better against Mizzou, and preseason Sun Belt all-conference quarterback Fredi Knighten should get in some solid stats, but the outcome still won't go their way.
Mizzou may be without star center Evan Boehm and running back Russell Hansbrough after both suffered right-leg injuries in the season-opening win over Southeast Missouri State.
They should rest them, if they possibly can, because Mizzou should win this one without them.
Still, myriad offensive issues must be worked out.
As offensive coordinator Josh Henson noted after the opener, Hansbrough is the kind of player Mizzou can't replace, as evidenced by the lack of a running game once he left. Mizzou wound up with just 88 yards on 33 carries (2.7 average) in a 34-3 win against Southeast Missouri State.
"It was a combination of a lot of things," Henson told Matter of the Tigers' struggles to run the ball. "It wasn't the same thing all the time, which I guess is good news, but in some ways it's bad news. It feels like you're trying to plug your finger in a lot of leaks in a dam."
6. East Carolina at Florida
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Forget that New Mexico State was atrocious a season ago and wasn't expected to be that much better this year; Saturday's 61-13 win by the Gators was all about starting the Jim McElwain era off right.
Florida did that with a thumping of the Aggies that saw plenty of positives.
The quarterback duo of Treon Harris (14-of-19 for 215 yards and two touchdowns) and Will Grier (15-of-17 for 164 yards and two touchdowns) was exceptional. They really couldn't have done much better. Also, both showed the ability to make things happen with their feet.
McElwain dialed up 224 rushing yards in a balanced ground attack, and 14 different Gators caught passes.
Sure, it was against one of the worst FBS programs in the nation, but it was still a thing of beauty that can cultivate a whole bunch of goodwill in a fanbase that could have become apathetic about the hiring of McElwain.
"I wanted our team to come out and not really prove anything, but maybe prove something maybe to themselves," McElwain told the Associated Press (via FoxSports.com). "It's OK to go out there and play your tail off. It's OK to go out there and make some plays. I thought, for the most part, they did."
Now, the Gators head into a rematch of last year's Birmingham Bowl where they needed a last-minute play by Vernon Hargreaves III in the end zone to escape with a win.
The Pirates aren't the same team as they were a season ago, having to navigate life without quarterback Shane Carden, receiver Justin Hardy and offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley. They narrowly beat Towson 28-20 in the opener, and it'll be difficult for them to hang with the Gators.
5. Georgia at Vanderbilt
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Georgia was everything we thought they'd be in that opening weekend, disposing of Louisiana-Monroe 51-14 in a lightning-shortened outcome.
The Bulldogs running game and defense were nasty, and neither one showed very much of anything in a vanilla scheme against a team that was never going to compete anyway.
Perhaps the best news for the Dawgs is that transfer quarterback Greyson Lambert was mistake-free in limited action (only 12 pass attempts), and while UGA did give up two touchdown drives, it was pretty stout and flying around everywhere on the other two drives.
Vanderbilt, meanwhile, fell flat on a two-point conversion that would have tied the game following a late touchdown to fall 14-12 to Western Kentucky.
The Commodores offense was pitiful, struggling much the same way as it did a season ago. But a bright spot (other than his two interceptions in the end zone) is that quarterback Johnny McCrary at least moved his team up and down the field.
He threw for 217 yards and ran for 66 more, leaving coach Derek Mason to exclaim: "That means we're moving the chains."
Defensively, VU was pretty stout against what is expected to be a dynamic offense, but Georgia is on a completely different level up and down the board talent-wise.
The Dawgs shouldn't have much trouble against Vanderbilt, but if the 'Dores can keep the defensive intensity, it may be interesting for a while.
4. Toledo at Arkansas
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Forget the vaunted rushing attack; Arkansas' season-opening 48-13 thumping of UTEP was the Brandon Allen Show.
The fifth-year senior quarterback was brilliant in completing 10 of his first 12 passes for 256 yards and four touchdowns on the Razorbacks' first four possessions on his way to 308 passing yards in the game.
He exposed the Miners defense, which struggled in communications and coverage and never posed any real threat for the Hogs.
"(Allen) just had a control and a presence out there," Arkansas coach Bret Bielema told the Associated Press' Taylor McGillis. "I thought he was in control the entire time."
The rest of the Hogs didn't look shabby, either. Running back Alex Collins piled up 127 yards on just 12 carries, and Kody Walker added a touchdown. The defense allowed just 204 total yards.
Now, they'll get a little bit bigger test against Toledo, a team that Athlon picked to win the MAC. That prediction looked a little shaky as the Rockets held a thin 16-7 halftime lead over Stony Brook on Thursday when the game was canceled due to inclement weather.
After his team finished 9-4 last season, coach Matt Campbell knows this will be a huge opportunity, but it's difficult to see Toledo competing without junior tailback Kareem Hunt.
He was suspended along with defensive end Allen Covington for the season's first two games following an unspecified violation of team rules.
The Rockets have a former SEC quarterback in ex-Alabama signal-caller Phillip Ely starting for them, but there's a big difference between having one SEC player and a team full of them.
3. Kentucky at South Carolina
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Fueled by a rowdy atmosphere at Commonwealth Stadium last Oct. 4, Kentucky stunned South Carolina with a 45-38 upset victory.
At the time, it made the Wildcats 4-1 and the talk of the nation.
UK fell off the face of the college football world soon after, failing to make a bowl game. But this year, they'll attempt to replicate the upset in Columbia.
That's easier said than done if the first week of games is any indication.
Coach Mark Stoops' team struggled mightily against a Louisiana-Lafayette program that is replacing star quarterback Terrance Broadway, escaping with a 40-33 win after surging ahead 21-0.
"We're 1-0," quarterback Patrick Towles told WDRB.com's Rick Bozich. "And we're moving on. We'll learn from it."
The Gamecocks, meanwhile, didn't look that great, either, but they intercepted North Carolina quarterback Marquise Williams twice in the end zone to hang on to a 17-13 season-opening victory over the Tar Heels.
Now, they'll hook up with Kentucky in a game between two SEC East programs on the periphery of contention. The winner will try to become this year's upstart, while the loser will fall back into obscurity.
It may not be a huge game on the national scale, but this game is crucial to both teams.
2. LSU at Mississippi State
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This game became a whole lot more interesting when LSU's season-opening tuneup against McNeese State was postponed due to bad weather.
Now, the Tigers and their uncertain quarterback situation must make their season debut in a hostile environment in Starkville. That's a scary proposition for coach Les Miles' team, even though it has a wealth of talent and a load of promise.
"…LSU’s offense, with sophomore quarterback Brandon Harris at the controls, got to run only five plays," wrote the Advocate's Scott Rabalais of the wash-out Saturday night. "He needed more work, a lot more work; but in a flash, the chance for that was gone. So in effect, Harris will make what is realistically his second career start on the road in Starkville, Mississippi."
Obviously, the Tigers can find comfort in riding superstar running back Leonard Fournette as well as a strong defensive backfield that could be elite, but there are issues that haven't been resolved.
The Bulldogs know the feeling. With so much consternation surrounding their offensive line and revamped defensive front, MSU struggled at times in an uncharacteristic road game in Hattiesburg against Southern Miss.
Coach Dan Mullen's team won 34-16, but there were myriad issues. Quarterback Dak Prescott didn't do anything downfield, and his receivers dropped passes. The running backs sputtered along, and the defense allowed 413 total yards.
It was an uninspired effort.
So, what's better: to play a rocky first game or no game at all? Everybody will find out Saturday as these two teams try to take a step toward competing in the minefield that is the SEC West.
1. Oklahoma at Tennessee
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A season ago, Tennessee proved it was not quite ready for prime time in a 34-10 loss to an Oklahoma team that, at that point, had playoff aspirations.
As the season progressed, the programs went in opposite directions, with the Vols winning four of their final five games to finish 7-6 and win the TaxSlayer Bowl.
Meanwhile, a promising Sooners season fell flat with an 8-5 record and a forgettable 40-6 throttling at the hands of Clemson in the Russell Athletic Bowl.
Have the Vols closed the gap, or are they still a step behind an annual national power like the Sooners?
Now's the time to find out.
During the opening weekend, both teams disposed of MAC opponents with Oklahoma dominating Akron 41-3 and pummeling the Zips in every facet of the game except for suspect offensive line play.
The Vols, meanwhile, had a much tougher time with Bowling Green, allowing 30 points and letting the Falcons hang around until midway through the third quarter before finally dispatching them 59-30.
Both offenses were sharp and well-oiled, but this is the first big-time test for either.
On a week where there aren't many epic-stage games, the Vols and Sooners will share the spotlight with Michigan State and Oregon. Both games will receive huge national play, and a win by the Vols could help announce their re-emergence as a contender.
It would also be a key early-season win for the conference against a perceived Big 12 power.
All statistics gathered from CFBStats.com unless otherwise noted.
Brad Shepard covers SEC football for Bleacher Report. Follow Brad on Twitter @Brad_Shepard.
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