Conference Context: Where Tennessee Sits After Week One
While the best conference in college football aims for its straight national title, the SEC could've had a more ideal weekend to start the season. Eleven of the conference's teams remain unbeaten, but on the national stage, three disappointed.
It all started Thursday night with Florida completing their home and home at Utah. While we got the Anthony Richardson coming out party in this game last year, we didn't get one from Graham Mertz this time. The Gators scored three points on their first three red zone trips and were 1/13 on third down in a dismal 24-11 loss.
Saturday night, it continued with Drake Maye and UNC carving up the South Carolina defense to the tune of 6.2 yards per play while the Tar Heel defense sacked Spencer Rattler nine times in a 31-17 victory. To make matters worse, the matchup between Florida State and LSU got hyped up as one of the best games of the 2023 season. Brian Kelly talked a lot about how the Tigers would get FSU this time, but a Florida State offensive barrage in the second half gave the Seminoles a 45-24 victory.
Now, let's not overreact here. We've played one week of football and have plenty more to decide. However, Tennessee did what it needed this week, even if it meant we didn't learn much. The Vols held Virginia to 3.2 yards per play and just barely 200 total yards in their 49-13 win. The story of that game was simply "don't show your cards if you don't have to." On the other hand, some of these other results told us more about Tennessee than the actual Tennessee game did. We can feel much more comfortable about Tennessee getting revenge against South Carolina. The Vols' pass rush looked great in Nashville, and the Gamecocks' offensive line looked (as we already knew) injured.
In terms of the Vols' rivals down in Gainesville, regardless of Tennessee winning that game in two weeks, I feel comfortable saying the Vols are a better football team than Florida. Billy Napier's team won't run the ball that poorly again all season except for maybe against Georgia, but it's clear they don't have the talent they did even last season. I'll hold off on any overreactions to anyone else. Outside of South Carolina, Florida, and LSU, we didn't learn much about any other team. No one else in the conference played a super challenging opponent to start their season, and we likely have to wait a week to judge where the gaps divide after tier one.
For now, if you're power-ranking the conference, anywhere from Nos. 3-5 would feel right for Tennessee. Georgia and Alabama would be double-digit favorites on a neutral field against the Vols, and LSU would still be favored despite the poor showing. Texas A&M would also be a trendy pick after redshirt freshman quarterback Conner Weigman dazzled in his season debut for the Aggies. A handful of SEC teams play against quality competition next weekend, so we hopefully learn a lot more, but for now, Tennessee did what they needed to do in Week 1, and no matter where you expected to start the season, they shouldn't change.
Tennessee Volunteers QB Joe Milton III during the win against Virginia on September 2nd, 2023, in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Caitie McMekin of the News Sentinel)
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