Photo by Amy Smotherman Burgess
North Carolina State linebacker Rickey Dowdy (34) is unable to stop Tennessee wide receiver Cordarrelle Patterson (84) as he runs the ball for a touchdown during the Chick-Fil-A Kick Off Game at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta on Friday, Aug. 31, 2012. (AMY SMOTHERMAN BURGESS/NEWS SENTINEL STAFF)
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How did the SEC teams do in the first week of football in 2012?
Georgia win – Buffalo 45-23
Auburn loss- Clemson 26 – 19
Florida win- Bowling Green 27-14
Alabama win- Michigan 41-14
LSU win- North Texas 41-14
Vanderbilt loss- South Carolina 17-14
Missouri win- Southeastern Louisiana 62-10
Kentucky no game
Miss St. win- Jackson State 56-9
Ole Miss win- Central Arkansas 27 – Ole Miss 49
Tennessee win- North Carolina State 35-21
Texas A&M- -postponed til Oct 13
So. Carolina win- Vanderbilt 17-14
Arkansas win- Jacksonville State 49-24
Arkansas had some question marks on defense and Davis did not impress going on 18 runs with less than 4 yards a carry. In the West the result is the same with Alabama still on top. Barrett Jones did a great job at center and looks to me like he may be heading to a Outland Trophy. Auburn played a good game against a tough Clemson team but came up short and there are lots of question marks about an Ole Miss team that trailed the University of Central Arkansas at halftime.
For a rundown of the SEC East here is an article by John Adams:
Let’s back up for a few paragraphs.
Let’s back up to Sept. 17 of last year. That’s when Tennessee lost star wide receiver Justin Hunter to a knee injury in the first quarter against Florida.
That’s also when the course of the season changed drastically for the worse from a UT perspective.
The statute of limitations has long since expired on excuses. And excuses are best dismissed anyway, particularly when you conduct yourfootball business in the SEC, where everyone loses players to injury. How well you replace them often determines your success or failure in this league.
But you couldn’t help but notice how different UT’s offense looked last Friday night in a 35-21 victory over North Carolina State when it had two big-play threats at wide receiver in Hunter and junior college transfer Cordarrelle Patterson.
Offensive playmakers are a big deal anywhere.
They’re a bigger deal in the SEC, because the defenses are so unyielding.
So I was looking for playmakers the first week of the college season, which included a challenging stretch of games from noon Saturday to 2 a.m. Sunday during which I suffered a right-thumb sprain while overworking my remote switch. My conclusion: UT might have more playmakers than any one else in the SEC East south of Missouri (the only team in the division I didn’t see).
No one else in the conference threw the ball better than UT quarterbackTyler Bray did against the Wolfpack. And it’s questionable whether anyone else outside of Southern California can match the pitch-and-catch combination of Bray to Hunter and Patterson.
South Carolina could use either one of them, as evidenced by its 17-13 victory over Vanderbilt last Thursday. In fact, it could have used Vanderbilt wide receiver Jordan Matthews, who had eight catches for 147 yards. South Carolina wide receivers had a grand total of three catches.
I’m already questioning my pick of the Gamecocks to win the East. They’re too reliant on the running of quarterback Connor Shaw, who couldn’t get through the first game without bruising his throwing shoulder. And there’s no semblance of an adequate backup behind him.
Running back Marcus Lattimore rushed for more than 100 yards and looked as good as he did last year when his season was cut short by a knee injury. But he didn’t consistently break tackles as he did as a freshman in 2010.
The running back headliner in the East had an Athens, Ga., dateline. Freshman Todd Gurley rushed for 100 yards on eight carries and returned a kickoff for one of his three touchdowns. He’s just what Georgia needed after dismissing Isaiah Crowell from the team in preseason. Crowell led the Bulldogs in rushing last season as a freshman but never turned heads the way Gurley did in a 45-23 victory over Buffalo.
Georgia quarterback Aaron Murray also was on his game in the season opener. He had three touchdown passes and no interceptions, the latter of which too often sullied his 2011 performances.
Murray doesn’t have Bray’s receivers, though. Tavarres King, who had six catches for 117 yards, has speed and experience but still drops too many passes.
Florida could live with a few drops if its receivers could get open. The Gators established their running game and little else in a 27-14 victory over Bowling Green.
Senior Mike Gillislee ran hard and showed more speed than expected in rushing for 148 yards. But other than Kentucky, whom else can Florida beat in the East without a more productive passing game?
The Gators just don’t have enough playmakers. And based on the first weekend, Georgia and South Carolina — the two highest ranked teams in the East — don’t have as many as the Vols.
John Adams is a senior columnist. He may be reached at 865-342-6284 or adamsj@knoxnews.com. Follow him at http://twitter.com/johnadamskns.
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