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Around the SEC West: Week 1

The season has begun, and with the hustle and bustle it entails it's hard to find the time to keep up with every SEC team. While you're busy plotting your cheese display for the grove, we'll be letting you know what's happening throughout the conference.

By The Ghost of Jay Cutler
Ronald Martinez

#1 Alabama 1-0 (0-0)

Offense, defense, and special teams all contributed mightily to the Tide's 35-10 victory over the Virginia Tech Hokies in the Chick Fil A kickoff game. A guy to watch out for is Christion Jones, who returned a punt and a kick for touchdowns, as well as caught a 38-yard AJ McCarron pass for a score. He's just stupid fast, y'all. What's scary about this game though is how Virginia Tech and it's stout defense held the tide to a mere 202 yards and still lost by 25 points. That's what the Tide does, y'all.

Arkansas 1-0 (0-0)

Bret Bielema's "All-American double freedom rockets forever and ever #1" brand of football performed admirably against one of the Sun Belt's better squads, as the Hogs rolled up 522 yards and 34 points against Louisiana Lafayette. There was a rushing tilt in the offense, with the Hogs going full B1G with 292 yards rushing (and 230 passing) on the backs of Jonathan Williams and Alex Collins, both of whom rushed for over 100 yards. Quarterback Brandon Allen (who?) also performed well, completing 15 passes on 22 attempts for 230 yards and three touchdowns.

Auburn 1-0 (0-0)

Mike Leach recently said that the worst teams in the Pac 12 could beat the worst teams in the SEC. First, that's not much of an accomplishment, pirate. Second, you clearly didn't prove that, as the Tigers kept the Cougars out of the endzone in the second half, forcing three turnovers en route to a 31-24 victory. Perhaps surprising to those expecting Gus Malzhan's hurry up to be high flying (a common misconception of HUNH offenses), Auburn only attempted 20 passes on the night, while six different rushers toted the ball.

#7 LSU 1-0 (0-0)

Two tough defenses faced off in Dallas on opening weekend, a game which surprised yours truly with a 37-27 LSU victory. The LSU victory wasn't surprising, but the two teams combining for 64 points was. Zach Mettenburger actually looked serviceable, but having the receivers he does - including Jarvis Landry and Odell Beckham Jr. - can make a huge difference in any quarterback's performances. LSU is also about 800 deep at halfback, surprising exactly nobody.

Mississippi State 0-1 (0-0)

Even when doing by best to check my Rebel bias at the door, it was tough for me to predict a Mississippi State victory last week. But, wow, I didn't think they'd fail to score a touchdown altogether. Oklahoma State was hardly impressive as well. It was an all around bad football game, with the worse team losing 21-3.

#9 Texas A&M 1-0 (0-0)

On the one hand, Texas A&M beat Rice 52-31 with their Heisman Trophy winning quarterback only attempting eight asses and six rushes. On the other hand, Rice managed 509 yards of offense against the Aggies, with 306 of them coming on the ground. Rice had four separate players with over five yards per carry, something which should worry the Texas A&M faithful against the likes of LSU, Alabama, and really any team with halfbacks in possession of functional feet.