SEC Week 1 Takeaways

The SEC had a very strong start to the season in Week 1 of the regular season. Overall the conference had a record of 12-1. It could have easily been 13-1, but LSU's game against McNeese State was canceled. With a tenacious first week for the conference, all of the talk about the SEC being down this year can be quieted for now. The cupcake teams that the majority of the conference faced were steamrolled, while the ranked teams that Alabama and Texas A&M were handled with ease.

Keys To Take Away From Week One

Although Alabama's starting quarterbacks situation is not set in stone, both Jake Coker and Cooper Bateman looked pretty sharp in their first showing of the season. Coker was handed the start and the majority of the playing time. His play gave Nick Saban no reason to change quarterbacks, but Cooper Bateman shined in his brief appearance at the end of the game. If Saban chooses to he will have one more game to fiddle around with the position till they face a real challenge against Ole Miss.

Auburn was able to survive against Louisville, but Jeremy Johnson definitely did not play up to his hype. There were times where glimpses of what he was projected to be were shown, but other times he looks rushed and made poor decisions. His three interceptions looked pretty ugly but Auburn was able look past the mistakes and prove one thing, it doesn't matter what running back is out there. All of them can successfully move the ball down the field. There will be much to prove next week as Auburn looks for an easy tune up before going to Baton Rouge to face LSU.

Unsurprisingly, Texas A&M was able to dismantle the 15th ranked Arizona State Sun Devils. The Aggies definitely looked like the ranked team in this matchup, and their newly revamped defense looked much improved from last year. They were able to successfully run the ball more than they did last year, and were able to pull away from Arizona State with explosive plays on offense.

Ole Miss, Arkansas and Florida all looked extremely strong as they faced much weaker opponents in their season openers, but the true test for these teams will come in the weeks to follow.

As mentioned above, the LSU game was canceled due to lighting. The game will not be made up and LSU will play only 11 regular season games instead of 12.

Georgia's game was also shortened due to inclement weather, as the coaches decided to call the game in the fourth quarter with Georgia already leading Louisiana Monroe 51-14.

All of the other teams in the SEC were able to easily handle their week one opponents with the exception of South Carolina and Vanderbilt. Vanderbilt was the only team in the SEC to loose this week, but they shot themselves in the foot in a game where they played better than their opponent, the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers.

Stand Out Players Of The Week

Brandon Allen, QB, Arkansas: Allen put together an excellent performance against UTEP, going 14-for-18 for 308 yards passing and four touchdowns.

Derrick Henry, RB, Alabam: Behind his strong offensive line, Henry was able to tear his way through the Wisconsin defense to run for 147 yards and three touchdowns.

Tennessee running backs: Alvin Kamara and Jalen Hurd had a combined 267 yards rushing with five touchdowns.

Daeshon Hall, DL, Texas A&M: The junior defensive lineman had a huge game against Arizona State with four sacks and two forced fumbles.

Kentrell Brothers, LB, Missouri: The senior linebacker had a great game for Missouri, flying around all over the field for 16 tackles.