Through two weeks of the college football season, one thing is clear: the SEC has struggled.
The SEC is 1-4 against ACC opponents, with their only win being Tennessee over Virginia. Texas A&M, South Carolina, LSU and Vanderbilt have lost to Miami, North Carolina, Florida State and Wake Forest, respectively.
Additionally, Florida was dominated by Utah to begin Week 1, and Texas beat Alabama by 10 points in Tuscaloosa, the first regular season non-conference loss for Nick Saban since 2007.
Extending further, Kentucky has looked ugly in its pair of wins, a new-look Georgia offense has struggled, Missouri barely beat MTSU, and Arkansas struggled to move the ball against Kent State. Outside of Ole Miss and Mississippi State, every team has underwhelmed in some way.
That includes Tennessee after their poor performance against Austin Peay. The Vols’ offense had their worst performance in the Josh Heupel era, and not much about UT’s 30-13 win would make fans excited for what’s to come.
But although Tennessee’s performance wasn’t encouraging, their schedule looks considerably easier than we all thought it would be.
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Florida looks like a team that will struggle to win a bowl game. Is a Gainesville trip ever easy? No. But even with Tennessee’s dismal offensive performance against Austin Peay, they’re still clearly a better team than the Gators.
In Week 4 Tennessee hosts UTSA, who lost to Houston in Week 1, who lost to Rice in Week 2. The Roadrunners are dangerous, but they’ve already struggled against two teams (Houston and Texas State) they were supposed to be better than.
Then the real SEC stretch begins for Tennessee when they host South Carolina in Week 5.
The Gamecocks’ offensive line was horrible in their loss to UNC, and Furman put up a fight against Shane Beamer’s squad in Week 2.
Then after the bye, Texas A&M comes to Knoxville. The Aggies’ offense has looked solid, but they gave up nearly 50 points to a Miami team that is by no means an ACC powerhouse.
Alabama will be extremely tough, but Texas just upset the Tide by 10 in Tuscaloosa. The Longhorns are probably better than Tennessee, but Alabama is more gettable at home than we thought entering the season.
Moving forward in Tennessee’s schedule, Kentucky and Missouri haven’t shown any signs of improvement from last year, UConn is still significantly less talented than Tennessee, and Vanderbilt, well, is Vanderbilt.
As for Georgia, Carson Beck has not looked great to start the season. With the Vols’ pass rush improved from a year ago, they could make his life very difficult in late November. And if Heupel has the offense firing on all cylinders? A win is not out of the realm of possibility.
After all, Georgia didn’t score a point in the first quarter against Ball State.
More than likely, lots will change with how some teams look by the time Tennessee plays them. But after the first two weeks, it looks as if the SEC could be in store for a down year, meaning Tennessee’s path to 9-11 wins may be a lot easier than we all thought.
One Response
Not an impressive win for the Vols.
However, the coaching staff adjusted and found ways to score and defend.
If TN can correct the penalties and hit the receivers when they are open, things will work out better when they play in the swamp.