SEC's Week 1 Struggles Are Not a Sign of Impending Doom

Admit it, you were glued to your television during the first Saturday of the college football season and had one overwhelming thought when your head hit the pillow.

"What is wrong with the SEC?"

After No. 5 LSU fell to unranked Wisconsin, South Alabama upset Mississippi State, Southern Miss stunned Kentucky, Missouri fell at West Virginia, Auburn played quarterback roulette in a loss to Clemson and Arkansas and Tennessee struggled in wins over lesser competition, it was a natural reaction.

As Timothy Burke of Deadspin noted on Twitter, the conference lost five regular-season games on Saturday alone.

It wasn't pretty, but it wasn't a sign of impending doom either.

It was just a sign that it was Week 1, and several talented teams are still working out the kinks early in the 2016 season.

"We've got to have consistent growth with our players that are playing for the first time," Arkansas head coach Bret Bielema said after the 21-20 win over Louisiana Tech. "I really do like the way they responded in the second half—especially the fourth quarter, defensively."

Tennessee head coach Butch Jones echoed those sentiments in quotes emailed by the school.

"Did we do some things that were uncharacteristic? Absolutely," he said. "I can guarantee you this, we will get them corrected. I think there's a lot of great teaching points that came about that we have to get corrected. Again, we found a way to win."

It's a cliche, but it does hold true—a team improves most between the first and second week of the season. Coaches get new perspectives on how their players handle competition other than the guys in the same color jersey, players get a wake-up call from guys who punch them in the mouth and the element of play-calling mystery sometimes proves to be more of a hindrance than a boost.

Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports

Besides, find me a conference in college football that looked like a juggernaut in Week 1.

Anyone? Anyone?

Bueller?

Did everybody miss the part of Saturday's story where defending ACC Coastal champ North Carolina lost to an SEC team in Georgia with a first-time head coach, Virginia getting worked by Richmond, the slop fest Boston College and Georgia Tech displayed in Ireland or Clemson getting taken to the brink by an average-at-best Auburn squad?

Are we just overlooking No. 3 Oklahoma looking completely overwhelmed and out-coached by Houston?

Are we forgetting that Michigan State struggled with Furman, and Northwestern lost at home to Western Michigan?

Were we all asleep when Washington State lost to Eastern Washington? Were our eyes glued elsewhere when UCLA's comeback fell short at Texas A&M? Are we just going to give Pac-12 South power USC a pass despite getting blown out by an Alabama team that played a true freshman at quarterback for the majority of the time?

As former Washington quarterback and current ESPN analyst Brock Huard noted on Twitter, it's not like the Pac-12 had the best opening weekend in the sport's history.

Yes, the SEC was sluggish. There's no denying that, and it'd be incredibly disingenuous to suggest otherwise.

As Cole Cubelic of the SEC Network and WUMP in Huntsville, Alabama, noted on Twitter, it's a long season.

But don't get lost in that narrative when the same thing can be said about every other Power Five conference in the country.

Where are the good teams?

Alabama certainly looked like one in Week 1, as did Ohio State, Houston and Louisville. After those specific teams, show me one that looked elite?

Conference power isn't made or broken over Labor Day weekend. Conference power is made or broken over the course of the season based on how teams address their flaws, develop their strengths and establish their identities.

It is impossible to do that in fall camp, and struggling in Week 1 oftentimes accelerates that process.

There are great teams elsewhere too. But until the SEC shows a sustained downturn that lasts longer than a 72-hour period over Labor Day weekend, let's hold off on writing the conference's eulogy.

Give it a few weeks before etching in stone the downfall of the SEC.

Quotes obtained firsthand, unless otherwise noted. Statistics courtesy of CFBStats.com, unless otherwise noted. All recruiting information is courtesy of 247Sports. Odds provided by OddsShark.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.