SEC Football: Takeaways From Week 2

Another exciting weekend of SEC Football is in the books. All things considered it was a pretty boring weekend compared to Week 1. Nevertheless, there are a few takeaways we can glean from the dismal week two slate.

Alabama

• Jalen Hurts is the quarterback. There are pros and cons to that. Hurts is very talented and offers a running threat. Nevertheless, he is young, and that was obvious watching him play this weekend. He was slow making his reads and took a couple of bad sacks. He will have to grow up in a hurry with Ole Miss coming up this week.
• The Tide defense is nasty. Jonathan Allen is a beast up front. Eddie Jackson and Marlon Humphrey provide talent and leadership on the back-end.
• The running game is a concern. Western Kentucky sold out against the run and dared Jalen Hurts to beat them. He was able to, but will the same be true of better teams? Perhaps not. The Tide need to find ways to run the ball regardless of what the defense is doing.
• The Tide had a lot of penalties, particularly on the offensive line. They will have to clean those up if they want to beat Ole Miss.

Arkansas

• Rawleigh Williams is healthy again. And he is extremely talented. He makes the Hog’s play-action passing game work. Which is vital to their success.
• Austin Allen is a capable successor to his brother. He has a solid arm and makes good decisions.
• Brooks Ellis is the man in the Hog defense.
• The Hogs are going to be a threat in the SEC West this season. Arkansas is off to a good start this season, which is terrifying. They tend to get better as the season goes on under Bret Bielema. They should be a great team by the end of the season.

Auburn

• Sean White is the Tiger’s starting quarterback. He is not as fast as John Franklin III, nor does he offer the big arm of Jeremy Johnson. Nevertheless, White is accurate and makes better decisions than the other two candidates. It looks like Gus Malzahn will sink or swim with White.
• Kerryon Johnson is a good running back. He is fast, agile, and surprisingly strong for his size. And if he isn’t strong enough then Kamryn Pettway certainly is. The two combined for almost 300 yards against Arkansas State.
• Receivers are emerging for the Tigers. Tony Stevens and Darius Slayton both had good games. True freshman Kyle Davis only had one catch, but it was a great one-handed grab over two defenders.

Florida

Antonio Callaway

is a special receiver. He should be first-team All-SEC this year, if not All-American. I’m calling it already.

Lamichal Perine should have had more than three recruiting stars. He is going to be a good one for the Gators.

Georgia

• Jacob Eason is human. Bulldog fans were ready to anoint the kid after he helped spur the comeback against North Carolina. But he showed yesterday that he has a lot of room to improve.
• Sony Michel made his return, but it wasn’t triumphant. We will have to see if he can regain his form. If not, freshman Brian Herrien will gladly take his place as Nick Chubb‘s primary backup.
• The Bulldogs are still learning how to win. They tried really hard to give the game away, but Nicholls wasn’t quite good enough to take it from them. That kind of performance won’t cut it against SEC opponents.

Kentucky

• Drew Barker is not the answer at quarterback. Last season, the Wildcats spurned Patrick Towles in favor of Drew Barker. Yesterday, Barker made them regret that decision.
• The Wildcats also have no defense to speak of. Florida blew their doors off from the opening whistle. It was honestly pitiful to watch.
• I feel bad for Boom Williams. He is a quality running back. He managed to average 5.5 yards per carry against a tough Florida defense, despite being the Wildcats only weapon.

LSU

The LSU defense is stout. Once they get more comfortable in the 3-4, they will be a force to be reckoned with.

More from SEC Football

• SEC Football: Rattler, Cook, Mertz Rise in Week 4 QB Power Rankings
• 2023 Week 4 AP Poll Top 25: Every SEC team’s highest, lowest spot on ballot
• SEC Football: Florida, LSU rise in Week 4 2023 power rankings
• 4 SEC football picks to hammer and one to avoid in Week 3
• After down Week 2, Week 3 provides another opportunity for SEC football

Mississippi State

• Nick Fitzgerald is the answer at quarterback. He showed tonight that he can beat a decent defense both running and passing.
• Brandon Holloway will struggle running against SEC defenses. He had one long run of 22 yards, but was bottled up for most of the night.
• Fred Ross and Donald Gray are a solid one-two punch on the outside.

Missouri

• The Tigers have a very talented, albeit still young, quarterback in Drew Lock. He lit the Eastern Michigan secondary up for 450 yards and five touchdowns. Can he maintain that form against tougher defenses? We will see.
• The Tigers have a pair of capable running backs in Ish Witter and Damarea Crockett.
• The Tigers also have a bevy of talented young receivers. Ray Wingo, Johnathon Johnson, and Emanuel Hall all had productive nights.

Ole Miss

• Chad Kelly is still the best quarterback in the SEC. If you don’t put pressure on him, he will eat your defense alive.
• Akeem Judd is emerging as a very good running back. We will see how he performs against Alabama before we praise him too much though.
• The Landshark defense remains tough.
• Kelly has a lot of options to throw to.

South Carolina

The defense is not as good as they appeared to be against Vanderbilt’s anemic offense. It is probably going to be a long season in Columbia.

Tennessee

• After falling into a 14-0 hole, the Volunteers finally woke up and played like the playoff contender we thought they might be.
• Joshua Dobbs and Jalen Hurd are hard to defend against running the football.
• The Volunteer defense is vulnerable.
• The Volunteer offensive line needs some work in pass protection.

Texas A&M

• Trevor Knight is easily the best quarterback the Aggies have had since the departure of Johnny Manziel. It’s not exactly a high bar, but he nevertheless clears it easily.
• The Aggies have options at running back. Last week, Trayveon Williams led the way. This week it was Kendall Bussey. Keith Ford has been good in both games.
• Christian Kirk is the a great receiver. But we knew that already.

Vandy

• Kyle Shurmur is not a great quarterback, but he’s the best that Vanderbilt has right now.
• Ralph Webb is the most underrated player in the conference. I’ve said it before but i’ll say it again. It’s a shame that he isn’t on a better team.
• The Vanderbilt secondary is vulnerable.

Thank you so much for reading. Be sure to “like” us on Facebook and “follow” us on Twitter. Also, share your takeaways in the comments below.