Mr. CFB: What Did We Learn In Week Two OF SEC Football?
Here's five things we learned:
1—Florida Coach Dan Mullen has a big decision to make.
Decisions like the one Dan Mullen has to make are why coaches get paid the big bucks.
As Florida’s preseason practice was winding down in August we started hearing whispers that Anthony Richardson and his athleticism might give the Gators a better chance to win than Jones, the loyal soldier who has been patiently waiting his turn.
Richardson had 153 passing and 115 rushing yards in a 42-20 win at South Florida on Saturday. His first throw went 75 yards for a touchdown. Jones had a couple of turnovers for the second straight week.
It won’t be a comfortable conversation with Jones but it’s one Mullen must have with No. 1 Alabama coming to the Swamp on Saturday.
Richardson did tweak his right hamstring in the game with USF and that could be a factor. It’s going to be an interesting week in Gainesville.
2—The Georgia defense might not give up a touchdown until October. Somebody Tweeted this idea to me over the weekend so let’s discuss.
Clemson only had a field goal against the Georgia defense.
UAB’s only touchdown in a 56-7 loss in Athens came on a pick six.
This Saturday Georgia hosts South Carolina, which had one offensive touchdown in a 20-17 win at East Carolina. Vanderbilt comes to Dooley Field at Sanford Stadium on Sept. 25. Vanderbilt had only three points in its opener with East Tennessee State and scored three touchdowns in a 24-21 win at Colorado State.
Arkansas comes to Athens on Oct. 2.
Are the odds against it? Of course they are. Big time. But the fact remains that Georgia’s defense gave up only 165 yards to UAB and 180 to Clemson. That’s pretty good.
3—There was no mystery about Arkansas and its 40-21 win over Texas.
The Hogs of Sam Pittman were a lot tougher and significantly better coached than the Longhorns.
Football is not all that complicated. If I can block you where I want you to go, I’m going to win. Arkansas ran for 333 yards and passed for another 138 and dominated the line of scrimmage. Arkansas defensive coordinator Barry Odom, the former head coach at Missouri, dialed up a plan that held Texas to only 249 total yards.
So are the Hogs going to make some noise in the SEC West and beat somebody they are not supposed to beat? We’ll soon find out. After playing Georgia Southern this week, Arkansas plays Texas A&M, Georgia, Ole Miss, and Auburn.
4—Texas A&M needs to get Haynes King back on the field before the Aggies play Arkansas in Arlington on Sept. 25.
King, in his second start for Texas A&M, was injured (ankle) in the first quarter against Colorado in Denver and did not return to the game. His backup, Zach Calzada, struggled at times and had a sure touchdown taken off the board when the ball came out of his hands near the goal line. But Calzada did put together a big drive with the game on the line and threw an 18-yard touchdown pass to Isaiah Spiller with 2:41 left. That gave the No. 5 Aggies a hard-fought 10-7 win on the road.
Calzada completed only 18 of 38 passes (47.3 percent) for 183 yards.
That will be good enough against New Mexico this Saturday in College Station, but will it be good enough for the Hogs at Jerry World and beyond?
As of this writing on Monday morning there was no official word on King's status. But I don't have a good feeling about it. Remember that Alabama comes to College Station on Oct. 9.
5—Kentucky looks like a team that can challenge Georgia and Florida in the SEC East.
After lighting up the scoreboard with its new passing game against ULM on Sept. 4, Kentucky got back to its roots against Missouri, running for 337 yards in a 35-28 win at Kroger Field. Will Levis only threw 18 passes because Kentucky controlled the line of scrimmage from the opening snap. Chris Rodriguez ran for a career-high 205 yards.
Soon we get to find out how good the Wildcats really are. They play Chattanooga this week and then face South Carolina (at Columbia), Florida (in Lexington), LSU (in Lexington) and Georgia (in Athens) on four consecutive weeks.
Note: The above photo is Florida quarterback Anthony Richardson playing against USF last Saturday in Tampa. The photo should be credited to Matt Pendleton of the Gainesville Sun.