SEC Week 1 Breakdown
In recent years, powerhouse teams have begun playing each other at the very beginning of seasons to bolster their resumes. Last year was punctuated by Virginia Tech’s battle with Boise State in the first week of the season. The SEC has done their part to continue this fun trend, pitting a few of their best against some formidable foes the first Saturday of the college football season.
Saturday, September 3
4th ranked LSU vs. 3rd ranked Oregon
In one of the best matchups that we will see all year long, the reigning national champion runner-ups will travel to Arlington, Texas to take on one of the SEC’s best, the LSU Tigers. In an unpredictable storyline, both of these schools have had their share of troubles with the NCAA rules committee in recent weeks. Oregon seems to have slipped under the national radar but was certainly the target of an NCAA probe during the offseason. Meanwhile, the Tigers are right in the middle of their unpleasantness with starting quarterback Jordan Jefferson suspended indefinitely and looking at legal trouble.
The lone silver lining of this story from LSU’s perspective is that they have a very capable backup on their roster in senior quarterback Jarrett Lee.
It will be interesting to see which school is able to ignore their off-field distractions the best and concentrate on making plays and executing in the first game of the year. Week one is usually hard enough on a team to successfully execute a game plan and do everything their coach wants them to do, let alone with a violations cloud hovering over each school’s figurative head.
To top it all off, the loser of this game will most likely be out of the National Championship picture; what a way to start off the year.
Saturday September 3
19th ranked Georgia vs. 5th ranked Boise State
Boise State might be used to this by now. After battling highly ranked Virginia Tech in their week one game in 2010, Boise knows what is at stake in this game. A win versus a ranked SEC opponent would do wonders for their BCS standings later in the year. A loss, however, would assure them of no BCS game to speak of. Week one, the stakes could not be higher.
For Georgia, things stack up a little differently. They are not quite on that top tier of their conference like they used to be. What this game really means, out of the gate, is to tell the rest of the country how good UGA can be this season. A close loss or a win would show their SEC brethren that they are coming to play this season and battle for the conference crown. Since its been a few years, roughly the maturation of one recruiting class, since Mark Richt has had the Bulldogs competing at the top of the South Eastern Conference, a hard-fought non-conference win to start the year would do wonders for their confidence.
Other notable matchups:
Saturday September 3
12th ranked South Carolina vs. East Carolina
Let’s just say East Carolina has a habit of beating ranked or BCS conference opponents. As detailed in ECU’s season preview supplemental, they have taken out one of these foes each of the last six years. Last year, it was North Carolina State; in 2009 it was a ranked Houston team; the year before, they beat #17 Virginia Tech and #8 West Virginia in back to back games. In 2007, North Carolina was the loser. They also took out ACC opponents in 2006 and 2005.
Not that a high-powered Gamecocks squad needs to be worried, but they should not take these Pirates lightly. Overlooking East Carolina could mean disaster for a South Carolina team hoping to build on their SEC championship appearance from a year ago.
Saturday September 3
23rd ranked Auburn vs. Utah State
The Tigers will be experiencing their first game of Life after Cam. The larger than life quarterback has moved on to greener pastures with money in his pocket and less people asking about his daddy. Meanwhile, Auburn is forced to move on as well to a team centered on sophomore stud running back Michael Dyer. This week one game should offer them little problems, a good starting point for a rebuilding offense.
Games of no particular note or significance whatsoever:
Thursday September 1
20th ranked Mississippi State vs. Memphis
Kentucky vs. Western Kentucky
Saturday September 3
2nd ranked Alabama vs. Kent State
Ole Miss vs. BYU
Tennessee vs. Montana
15th ranked Arkansas vs. Missouri State
22nd ranked Florida vs. Florida Atlantic
Vanderbilt vs. Elon
A couple remaining thoughts on the rest of these games: look for the SEC to win all of these matchups with the possible exception of BYU topping Ole Miss. These are our run of the mill, generic week one matchups for BCS conference teams that we are used to. For anyone hoping an unlikely opponent could take out Alabama early in the season, don’t look for it to be Kent State. Remember that Antonio Gates went to college there and even he didn’t want to play football for Kent State.
