Around the League: Week 2

We take our weekly look around the SEC, which at least through the first two weeks of the season is really just a weekly chance to point and laugh at the school to the east.

Missouri 38, West Virginia 7

Since there appears to be some confusion on this point, West Virginia sucks out loud this season — the Mountaineers ended the day with 30 yards rushing, which is only four less than they got in a 20-13 win over James Madison in Week 1. The Mountaineers managed 171 yards of total offense in this one and threw three interceptions. This is certainly an improvement for Missouri after losing to Wyoming in Week 1 — but Dana Holgorsen left basically nothing behind for Neal Brown’s first year, so I wouldn’t read too much into this.

South Carolina 72, Charleston Southern 10

South Carolina rolled up 775 yards of total offense on poor Charleston Southern. Clearly they’ve fixed everything after the Week 1 loss to North Carolina.

Clemson 24, Texas A&M 10

The Aggies showed that they’re probably closer than you think; Texas A&M’s defense kept this game within striking distance, but its offense was not about to score on Clemson’s defense. This might actually be the toughest test Clemson will see before the Playoff.

Mississippi State 38, Southern Miss 15

The good news: Mississippi State got an easy win over Southern Miss, though the Golden Eagles certainly helped by turning the ball over three times (in terms of yardage, Mississippi State outgained USM only 386-344.) The bad news: Tommy Stevens is hurt, and while backup Garrett Shrader did okay in relief, Mississippi State probably needs Stevens back soon.

Georgia 63, Murray State 17

Yawn. (No, don’t read anything into Murray State scoring 17: one of those touchdowns came on a pick six thrown by Georgia’s backup QB.)

Alabama 62, New Mexico State 10

After the game, Nick Saban reportedly said that Alabama is playing the best teams that want to play them. Apparently, the best teams that want to play them are Duke and New Mexico State.

BYU 29, Tennessee 26 (2OT)

With 30 seconds left in the game, Tennessee had a 99.6 percent chance of winning the game. Then, BYU’s Zach Wilson, on a 3rd and 8 at his own 20-yard line, completed a pass for 64 yards, and BYU sent the game to overtime on a field goal. And then they won the game. Tennessee is 0-2. They’ll probably beat Chattanooga next week; after that, their next four games are at Florida, Georgia, Mississippi State, and at Alabama. Tennessee may well be 1-6 after that stretch. Buckle up, Vol fans, we had to endure 25 years of this shit.

Ole Miss 31, Arkansas 17

Given how these two teams looked in Week 1, the only way this was going to be interesting was in a ten-car pileup sort of way: it’s awful to look at, but you just have to look. Instead, Arkansas showed its fans that it’s going to be in for another long season; the Razorbacks’ only offensive touchdown came with 1:21 left in the game (the other touchdown came on a fumble return.) Ole Miss would appear to have something resembling a defense, and its offense at least did something in this one — but it remains to be seen whether 483 yards of total offense against Arkansas is an accomplishment.

Florida 45, UT-Martin 0

The first of two games that Florida will play against FCS competition this season. This is a freaking joke.

Kentucky 38, Eastern Michigan 17

Kentucky racked up 461 yards of total offense, but they might have lost QB Terry Wilson — and backup QB Sawyer Smith threw for 76 yards in relief, but 54 of those came on one play. And the Wildcats have Florida next week.

Auburn 24, Tulane 6

An interesting comment I saw on Twitter (I’m paraphrasing here): Auburn fans’ panic over this one may be based on an assumption of Tulane’s quality that may or may not be correct. Anyway, an SEC win is an SEC win, right?

LSU 45, Texas 38

LSU has an offense! (At least, when they are facing a Big 12 defense.) Joe Burrow threw for 471 yards in what’s probably going to end up being one of the best games of 2019; LSU took a 20-7 lead into halftime, then Texas came back before LSU put the game away in the fourth quarter (Texas scored with 22 seconds left to cut the final margin to a touchdown.)