College Football Week One: What We Learned About the SEC and Big Ten

Week 1 of the 2010 College Football season gave us some surprises. One was that the SEC, what "experts" call the outright best and fastest conference in the nation, struggled. Florida's offense managed only 28 yards of offense against a mediocre Miami (OH) team until the 4th quarter. John Brantley fumbled the ball way too many times, some of which were from bad snaps, and the run game was quieted until a 78 yard run by Jeffery Demps in the 4th quarter.

It was 21-9 and Florida's offense had two of their three touch downs off of Miami turnovers. Miami (OH) had the ball 1st and Goal at the 5 yard line with about 9 minutes left in the fourth quarter. After some mental lapses by Miami, it was 3rd and Goal. After a great and powered play by the Miami offense to get it 4th and Goal at the 1, they got a 15 yard penalty. This forced them to kick a field goal instead of possibly getting it one more yard into the end zone. Instead of it being 21-16, it was 21-12. The good news was that Florida was getting the ball back and their offense had done nothing all day. However, a 78 yard run by Demps took away Miami's hopes for a monumental upset, and one that was rightfully deserved for how they played.

Also, Ole Miss fell to an FCS program in Jacksonville State in 2OT. Mississippi never looked like a bowl team and they simply got outplayed in the fourth quarter.

Also, LSU almost lost to North Carolina, a team that lost 14 players to suspensions. Six of those fourteen players were starters for a seemingly stacked UNC team. After jumping out to a 30-10 lead, UNC's offense finally put their early turnovers behind them and put together two consecutive touch down drives in the fourth quarter. It was now 30-24 with about three minutes left and UNC recovered the onsides kick. They didn't convert on fourth down later that drive so LSU got the ball back. They converted a first down but then fumbled and UNC recovered. They drove down with 30 seconds left and no time outs to the five yard line where two dropped passes in the end zone destroyed UNC's chances to get the come-from-behind-win. So, LSU was sooooooo close to losing to a North Carolina team that was without 14 of its players. I never thought this was a top 25 team and this just adds to my point.

Finally, Vanderbilt, one of the members of the "speedy and unbeatable SEC" lost to Northwestern, a member of the "overrated and slow" Big Ten.

Not only did Week 1 show that the SEC isn't as strong as what people thought, it showed that the Big Ten was stronger. The Big Ten went 9-2 during the first week and their only two losses came by teams that probably won't even get to a bowl game, Illinois and Purdue, by a combined 19 points. Michigan looked great in a blow-out win of Connecticut and teams like Penn State, Wisconsin, Iowa, Ohio State, Michigan State, and Indiana all won big against teams that weren't as good as them. Northwestern also beat an SEC team in Vanderbilt and Terrelle Pryor showed that he left nothing behind in the Rose Bowl going 17 of 25 for 247 yards and three TDs with no picks and a 190 QB Rating.

Week 1 was a good week for the Big Ten and a not-so-good week for the SEC. However, the week is not over as the Boise State Broncos visit the Virginia Tech Hokies on Monday night. That is a game that should be on every college football fan's TV.