SEC Football: 4 Biggest Takeaways after Week 1 Games

1. Georgia reminds the world

There wasn’t a more resounding win than Georgia over Oregon on Saturday.

The Bulldogs, after losing 15 players to the NFL Draft in April, walked into a “neutral-site” game (it was in Atlanta so not really) and absolutely dominated the Ducks, 49-3.

They put up 479 yards of total offense and the first 7 drives ended in a touchdown. Stetson Bennett was a big part in that as he had a career game throwing for 368 yards, 2 touchdowns, and completing 25 of 31 passes.

The Ducks were scrambling right from the start as they found themselves in a 14 point hole just five seconds into the second quarter. And it didn’t help that transfer quarterback Bo Nix was shaky throwing 2 first half interceptions.

The massacre continued into the fourth quarter when Georgia was forced to punt for the first time all game.

But by that point, backup quarterback Carson Beck had already gotten in on the fun and Georgia was up 49-3.

Verdict: Wake up America, the Bulldogs are still here

First and foremost, I’d say that the Bulldogs couldn’t have hoped for anything better and should probably go even higher in the rankings.

Yes, I know they’re already 3 and Ohio State took care of No. 5 Notre Dame, and Alabama certainly didn’t do anything to lose their spot.

BUT, beating the No.11 ranked team in the country by 46 points has got to mean something. And what I saw from the Bulldogs on Saturday looked like the best team in the country and a team fully capable of repeating as National Champions.

As far as Oregon is concerned, I don’t know exactly how good they will be this year. Dan Lanning had an extremely tall task in his debut and Kirby Smart didn’t take it easy on the former assistant.

Mario Cristobal recruited well and Lanning still has those players on the roster so I would expect the Ducks to bounce back, but they are not a top 15 team currently.

We’ll know more about them when they face a ranked BYU team in a couple weeks.