Week 1 of SEC Football: Questions and Observations
By Tucker Harlin
Week 1 of the SEC football season is upon us and we all have so many burning questions that we want answered about the league this season.
Here are my biggest questions and observations about Week 1 of the 2024 SEC football season.
#1- WEEK 1 IS THE NEW CUPCAKE SATURDAY
There is nothing more annoying than watching your team struggle against an SEC opponent while 10 other SEC teams are playing group of five or FCS schools in the second to last week of the season.
Fortunately, this doesn’t appear to be the case in 2024.
However, instead of playing most of those games the second to last week of the season, 11 SEC teams will play FCS or group of five foes in Week 1.
While my preference is for SEC teams to knock out these games earlier in the year, it takes away much of the excitement of the first week.
Eli Drinkwitz has found this out the hard way. He implored fans to make Mizzou’s home opener a sellout even though it’s against an FCS team on a Thursday night.
Basketball has a similar problem. You might have one pretty entertaining game on the opening Monday of the season, but it’s usually just power five teams going at it with mid majors.
I guess Mick Jagger was onto something when he said “You can’t always get what you want!”
#2. NAPIER OR KELLY: WHO HAS THE BIGGER MELTDOWN?
Two of the more compelling SEC matchups in the opening weekend are Miami at Florida and LSU vs USC in Las Vegas Sunday.
Billy Napier has won a Top 25 game in September in each of his first two seasons at Florida. But aside from those wins over Utah and Tennessee, he’s got 10 losses against ranked opponents.
Brian Kelly’s track record against ranked opponents at LSU is a little bit better, but he always finds a way to look like a deer in headlights at least once or twice a season.
So who has the bigger meltdown between the two of them?
My educated guess says Kelly, but not because I think he’s a worse coach.
Billy Napier has established himself as Jeremy Pruitt’s more intelligent brother in my mind, but the coach on the other side hasn’t exactly proven himself to be a rocket scientist either.
Kelly’s track record in these standalone Sunday games the last three seasons is pretty rough.
He wanted to execute his entire Notre Dame squad after narrowly escaping at Florida State in 2021, he lost on a botched extra point to the Noles in New Orleans in 2022, and his team just didn’t come out of the locker room in the second half in the loss to Florida State in Orlando last season.
Maybe the fact that it’s USC and not Florida State changes that narrative, but I’m feeling pretty skeptical.
#3. SHOULD RB DEPTH CONCERN GEORGIA FANS AGAINST CLEMSON?
Strong running back play has long been a staple of Georgia offenses, but it could be a weakness in the opener.
The Bulldogs know for a fact they will be without starter Roderick Robinson as he underwent a procedure that will sideline him for the first few weeks of the season.
Florida transfer Trevor Etienne was expected to be the Bulldogs’ starter going into the season, but uncertainty surrounds his status with potential consequences from his driving incident possibly keeping him out the opening week.
My expectation if the two are out is that the Bulldogs will ultimately find other ways to get around Clemson by other means on offense, but it could certainly hamper some production.
#4. WILL WE BE ABLE TO NOTICE IMPROVEMENT IN MISSISSIPPI STATE AND ARKANSAS’ OFFENSES?
The offenses Mississippi State and Arkansas fielded last season stuck out like sore thumbs in the SEC. It was on display for all to see last year in the Bulldogs’ 7-3 win in Fayetteville.
It would’ve been really cool if Mississippi State had kept the air raid offense in 2023 both to honor the late Mike Leach and to make life easier on fourth year starting quarterback Will Rogers.
But instead of doing something honorable, the Bulldogs changed their offense for the worse, and it was among the most grotesque in the league.
Arkansas experienced a similar issue last season as K.J. Jefferson went from being one of the most exciting to most overrated quarterbacks in the country. It didn’t help that offensive coordinator Dan Enos was engaging in student emails about his terrible play calling.
Even though Mississippi State’s offense is comprised largely of transfers, Jeff Lebby has a track record of exciting play calling at UCF, Ole Miss, and Oklahoma in recent seasons. I’m confident football will be fun in Starkville again.
What Arkansas did to revamp its offense wound up being one of the biggest SEC offseason storylines.
It retained most of its skill players from 2023 but did add quarterback Taylen Green and running back Ja’Quinden Jackson out of the portal.
But most interesting of all is offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino, the same man whose motorcycle accident in 2011 left the Arkansas program in shambles for the next 12 seasons.
Both the Razorbacks and Bulldogs will play FCS schools in the opening weekend, so take those performances with a grain of salt.
But, if they hang 60 or 70 on their opponents, maybe take it a bit more seriously.
#5. TEXAS A&M IS ONE OF A FEW TEAMS THAT CAN BEAT NOTRE DAME
Credit: Notre Dame Athletics
The annual Notre Dame preseason hype is something that is sickening for fans of other programs around the country.
Yes you have tons of money, yes we know you’re too good for conferences, yes your games are almost always on pristine looking broadcasts on NBC. But your football team isn’t as good as the national media makes it out to be.
If Texas A&M doesn’t beat the Fighting Irish in Week 1, we’re about to hear relentless pandering because of that weak schedule of theirs.
Louisville might give them a little bit of a challenge three weeks later, but the Cardinals turtled against respectable opponents last season.
I’m intrigued by the Georgia Tech game in Atlanta and the trip to USC at the end of the year, but I would still give the Irish good shots in both of those.
I don’t really want the rest of the country to have to rely on what’s basically a cult to shut down any Notre Dame praise, but that’s the best shot we’ll have at it all season.
