📡 SEC Week One Success Meter - 247Sports

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SEC Week One Success Meter

Alabama Coach Nick Saban was pleased with his team in win over Miami

247sports.com

You’ve heard the coachspeak. “We don’t get too high when we win and we don’t get too low when we lose.” Just because it’s a cliché, of course, doesn’t mean it’s not true.

We’re not quite through Week One of Southeastern Conference football play. We still have Ole Miss vs. Louisville to go Monday night, but since Rebels Coach Lane Kiffin won’t be there owing to a breakthrough coronavirus positive test, we’ll consider it later.

There are 13 first week games in the books with SEC teams getting 11 wins.

That doesn’t necessarily mean that everyone should be happy. I saw two stories on Auburn 60, Akron 10 with headlines that included the words “big win”. Is there anyone who didn’t expect something along those lines? Is there anyone who doesn’t expect a similar outcome next Saturday when Alabama hosts Mercer? Some games should be beneath SEC standards.

Although I don’t know where Vanderbilt could go. The Commodores should know better than to play the cupcakes (Middle Tennssee State, East Tennessee State) in their home state. There’s nothing to gain and everything to lose. In Vandy’s case Saturday, it was everything to lose for new coach Clark Lea. ETSU 23, Vanderbilt 3.

So, as Vanderbilt graduate and famed sportswriter Grantland Rice noted, it’s not just whether you’ve won or lost, it’s how you’ve played the game.

There are interesting perspectives on that. Some – probably a substantial majority -- think that if the team plays poorly and is still able to win, that’s a good thing. Alabama Coach Nick Saban, who rarely uses coachspeak, thinks otherwise, that to play poorly and win is not a good thing because you don’t learn from it. Not a direct correlation or contradiction, he has said he doesn’t want to waste a failure, that if the team loses that it takes comething positive from it for the future.

It's too early to judge how Vanderbilt and LSU will use their failures. The onus is more on Fighting Tigers Coach Ed Orgeron, though. Expectations don’t get too high in Nashville. They are inflated in Baton Rouge, and the Tigers, 38-27 loss to UCLA in the Rose Bowl Saturday won’t sit too well on the bayou.

Thus, judging winners and losers after Week One is Way Too Early. Still, there are impressions, concerns, hopes, etc., depending on where you are and where you expected to be.

Just in general groups, I would suggest:

Winners But Concerned – Georgia, which didn’t score an offensive touchdown despite having a (former) Heisman Trophy candidate at quarterback, with a 10-3 win over Clemson (also with a former Heisman Trophy candidate at quarterback); and Mississippi State, which had to come from far behind to defeat Louisiana Tech, 35-34.

Winners Only Acting Like Not Concerned – Missouri had reason to expect a rout of Central Michigan and the final score of 34-24 is not a rout; Arkansas was able to score 31 consecutive points down the stretch, and had to after trailing Rice…yes, Rice… by 17-7 in the third quarter; Texas A&M, which defeated Kent State, 41-10, had a first half of blown opportunities before finally putting Nick Saban’s alma mater away; Florida beat Florida Atlantic by 35-14, but starting QB Emory Jones was uneven, at best, and Anthony Richardson was perhaps more impressive, but there is no controversy, Do You Hear Me?

Winners Happy, Happy, Happy – Tennessee 38-6 over Bowling Green, but almost in a concerned category after bad quarterback play; Kentucky 45-10 over Louisiana Monroe; South Carolina 46-0 over Eastern Illinois; Auburn 60-10 over Akron.

Loser, Loser, Loser – An NCAA investigation might be just what LSU needs. Clean house. All the talk -- new coordinators, great defense, blah, blah, blah. UCLA 38-27.

Loser But Knows Its Place – ETSU 23, Vanderbilt 3.

It’s Good To Be King – Alabama Coach Nick Saban “was really proud” of how his Crimson Tide competed and was good on offense, made some stops on defense. He knows something about scheduling a good team (Miami) and then beating it soundly (44-13).

Of course, ABC hadn’t even had time (quite a bit of time, true) to finish its post-game commercials in Atlanta before Alabama-haters had dubbed Miami as overrated.

In any event, sports fans, remember this from Chapter One, Page One, “The Book of Coachspeak”: A team makes its biggest improvement from Week One to Week Two.

 

[rick4bama]

It’s Good To Be King – Alabama Coach Nick Saban “was really proud” of how his Crimson Tide competed and was good on offense, made some stops on defense. He knows something about scheduling a good team (Miami) and then beating it soundly (44-13).

I bet most of them coming from the "U" !