Mr. CFB: It Has Been A Less Than Beautiful Beginning for The SEC

Two weeks in and already the conference has six high-profile losses.

There is really no nice way to put this.

So let's just stick with the truth.

The 2023 college football season is two weeks old and half of the Southeastern Conference--yes, the S..E..C-- has a high-profile loss.

Let us survey the damage, shall we?

**--The Mighty Gators of Florida got this carnage started on Aug. 31 when they traveled to Utah and lost 24-11 to a team that did not have its starting quarterback

Florida took care of McNeese State 49-7 on Saturday but now they have to get ready to host Tennessee (2-0) on Sept. 23.

**--South Carolina got manhandled 31-17 in its opener against North Carolina in Charlotte on Sept. 2 The Gamecocks have a good quarterback  in Spencer Rattler but they could not protect him, giving up nine sacks.

North Carolina has a good defensive line under Gene Chizik, but the Gamecocks are going to see better, starting with Saturday's trip to Georgia.

**--On Sept. 3 LSU, picked by many to win its second straight SEC West title, got their butts kicked by Florida State 45-24 in a game that wasn't that close. It was a stunning defeat because Florida State was clearly the better team.

Then came Saturday:

**--Vanderbilt was trying to go 3-0 for the first time since 2017 but the Commodores were  beaten by Wake Forest 36-20 in Winston-Salem.

**--Texas A&M, which seemed poised to play well after winning its first game at home against New Mexico 52-10, simply laid an egg at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Lakes 48-33. No fluke here. Miami was the tougher team.

**--And finally the ugliest two weeks the SEC has seen in a long time had a  fitting nightcap with Texas marching into Bryant-Denny Stadium and winning 34-24. The loss snapped Alabama's 21-game home winning streak and a 57-game home streak against non-conference opponents.

Needless to say, Alabama coach Nick Saban, was not pleased. Alabama lost two games last season on the final play. This was not that. 

."It was a test for the coaches and a test for me," Saban said in the ugly aftermath. "It was a test for all the players."

A few observations before my SEC friends go into a full panic mode:

Don't read too much into this. This doesn't mean the SEC is slipping. It simply means that the SEC played six teams with better rosters. And yes, that includes the Texas'roster. The Longhorns had a much better quarterback in Quinn Ewers.

It will be interesting to see what happens with Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe moving forward. He has a great set of wheels. He throws a beautiful deep ball. But he also throws the ball into  double coverage. Does Alabama, which goes to South Florrida this week and hosts Ole Miss on Sept. 23, make a change at the position?

And you'd better get used to this because we're going to see more of it in the future.

With the 12-team college football playoff coming next season, schools will be more likely to play high-quality non-conference games. An SEC team knows  it can get into the playoff with two--or even three--losses.

As I heard Rick Neusheisel say, schools should be rewarded, not criticzed, for playing these quality games These are the kind of games that fans--and the TV networks--want.

This is the future.

And with the advent of the transfer portal and NIL, there is more player movement than ever. Spreading out the talent leads to moments like we have had the past two weeks.

Like Duke 28, Clemson 7.

Example: Sam  Hartman was a record-setting quarterback at Wake Forest last season. This season, his sixth, he is at Notre Dame and has completed 75 percent of his passes for 731 yards in his first three games. The Irish host Ohio State on Sept. 23. Notre Dame has a real shot in that game because of Hartman.

Keon Coleman led Michigan State in receiving last season. Now he is at Florida State and in the operner with LSU he caught nine passes for 122 yards.

The point? Hartman and Coleman are difference makers--players who can change the game every time they touch the ball.

They are prized players and with the new rules they will be on the move. They hav leverage.

I still think Georgia makes the college ball playoff. The question is: Do these early losses hurt the SEC's chances of getting a second team in?

Stay tuned.