SEC Football Q&A: Can Florida Win the SEC East?
Week 1 is in the books, and aside from Vanderbilt's stumble against Western Kentucky at home on opening night, it was a near-flawless week for teams in the SEC.
Alabama dominated Wisconsin in Jerry World, Texas A&M's defense throttled the potent Arizona State offense and Florida played real, functional offense for the first time in what seemed like a decade.
There were struggles, though.
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Auburn's offense never got in gear under first-year starting quarterback Jeremy Johnson, Tennessee's secondary struggled and South Carolina benefited from two awful red-zone decisions by North Carolina quarterback Marquise Williams to get past the Tar Heels.
Let's recap Week 1 and move forward to Week 2 and beyond with the weekly installment of SEC Q&A:
It was a solid 61-13 win for Florida over New Mexico State on Saturday night in Gainesville, but let's not get ahead of ourselves. After all, Florida is the same program that knocked off Eastern Michigan 65-0 in last season's opener before essentially forgetting how to play offense for the remainder of the season.
The SEC East title seems like a bit of a stretch at the moment, because it's not like New Mexico State presented much of a challenge, and it is only one game.
With that said, though, there's plenty to be excited about in Gainesville.
Starting quarterback Treon Harris and redshirt freshman Will Grier both looked solid as they combined for 381 passing yards and four touchdowns, and the defense held the Aggies to just 200 yards. You couldn't have asked for a better debut for first-year head coach Jim McElwain.
"I thought Treon showed some escapability and created big plays down the field and extended plays," McElwain said in quotes emailed by Florida. "I think that's a real positive. I thought what Will did was come in with that two-minute drive right there before half, which actually was really big, and what I mean by that is we gave up a score and we answered. And what that shows me is a little bit of resolve."
Second place in the East wouldn't surprise me at all, because the defense is going to keep Florida in every game and the offense certainly looks like it has an identity now. Having that identity against tougher defenses, though, is easier said than done—especially with that offensive line, which, while impressive in the opener, is still a work in progress.
A division title? I wouldn't be totally floored because the talent is there, but the rest of the division as a whole would have to be a disappointment for that to happen.
Let's get this out of the way right out of the gate—the first game is just one game, and a team really does improve the most between Week 1 and Week 2. A sluggish performance out of the gate doesn't make or break a season, as we saw last year when Alabama was tested by West Virginia and a week later when Ohio State lost to Virginia Tech.
With that said, Tennessee should be concerned about its secondary a little bit. On a scale of one to 10, maybe about a six. It was one area that was decimated by injuries, including the season-ender to starting safety LaDarrell McNeil late in fall camp.
Bowling Green is no joke offensively, though. They finished in the top four in the MAC in passing offense in each of the last two seasons, and they won East division titles in each of those years. Tennessee didn't try an awful lot defensively, was a bit vanilla (perhaps on purpose, perhaps out of necessity) and has veterans like Cam Sutton, Brian Randolph and others to help fix the problem.
They'll be tested this week with an Oklahoma team led by quarterback Baker Mayfield that lit up Akron with 388 passing yards under new offensive coordinator and Air Raid specialist Lincoln Riley.
Yes, Tennessee is still my favorite to win the East. As is the case with Tennessee's secondary, one game is too small of a sample size to judge Florida's offense, Missouri's front four and passing attack and South Carolina's new pieces.
Georgia, Tennessee's primary competition in the division, had its first two touchdown drives start inside the Warhawks 21-yard line, and starting quarterback Greyson Lambert threw only 12 passes. It was a solid win for the Bulldogs, but that doesn't prove much other than they're good at what we already knew they were good at—running the football.
It's actually a great setup for Tennessee right now. The hype train slowed a little bit after that 59-30 win over the Falcons despite Tennessee's ridiculously good ground game. A win over the high-flying Sooners would give the Vols a ton of confidence, which is gold for a group that is still learning what it takes to be a championship-caliber team.
Very legit.
There was a reason that new defensive coordinator John Chavis told ESPN's Sam Khan, Jr. this summer that he has the two best defensive ends in college football in Myles Garrett and Daeshon Hall, and you saw why against the Sun Devils. Garrett lived in the backfield, while Hall notched four sacks and and helped the Aggies tally 14 tackles for loss.
This isn't like last season, when the world was smitten with Texas A&M following its Week 1 demolition of South Carolina. The Aggies did that with offense, which we already knew was its strong point. To win in the way that they did over a very good Arizona State offense is a major statement moving forward.
At no point under head coach Kevin Sumlin have they won with defense. They did on Saturday, and they did so on a night in which offensive coordinator Jake Spavital's play-calling left a lot to be desired and Sumlin played musical quarterbacks.
If that's not a statement, I don't know what is.
If the defense can keep it up, it's going to launch the Aggies into legitimate SEC West contention this year.
Quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Recruiting information is courtesy of 247Sports. Statistics are courtesy ofcfbstats.com.
Barrett Sallee is the lead SEC college football writer and national college football video analyst for Bleacher Report, as well as a host on Bleacher Report Radio on SiriusXM 83. Follow Barrett on Twitter @BarrettSallee.
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