Wow, what an opening weekend for SEC football!
And even though the results didn’t turn out the way many fans in southwest Mississippi had hoped, there are still plenty of positives to take away from the games.
With the Ole Miss Rebels, the ‘elephant in the room’ for their season opener was the debut of head coach Lane Kiffin. The Rebels knew that they had their work cut out for them against the No. 5 Florida Gators and quarterback Kyle Trask.
That proved to be the case as the game started out as a back-and-forth affair between Florida and host Ole Miss before Trask and the Gators caught fire, handing Ole Miss a 51-35 loss. What’s more daunting for the Rebels is the fact that they gave up six, yes six, touchdowns to Trask and the Gators.
But enough with the negatives, Rebel fans have to be encouraged with the start that the offense got off to. Right out of the gate, the Rebels implemented a fast-paced, no-huddle approach that proved effective. Ole Miss kept the Florida defense guessing with both Matt Corral and John Rhys Plumlee alternating in and out at quarterback, with many of those plays taking place with both on the field simultaneously.
Keep your head high, Rebel fans, there is still plenty of football left to play.
Similar to Ole Miss, the Mississippi State Bulldogs also faced a Top-10 ranked team when they visited the defending champion No. 6 LSU Tigers.
However, this would be a different outcome, as new head coach Mike Leach unleashed his air raid plan on the Tigers, taking advantage of the absence of star cornerback Derek Stingley Jr.
The inexperienced secondary was carved up by new Bulldog quarterback K.J. Costello. The transfer from Stanford had a performance similar to Trask, throwing for 623 yards and five touchdowns in a 44-34 win.
While Costello was very impressive, I can’t give him all of the credit. Much of it should go to the Bulldog defense. It wasn’t the best of days for the group as they bent, but they did not break. They made just enough plays to give the Tigers fits. And the same way the Bulldog offense took advantage of an inexperienced secondary, the defense feasted on first-year LSU starting quarterback Myles Brennan, who takes over for the departed Joe Burrow.
Brennan showed his inexperience holding on to the ball too long multiple times. The MSU defense totaled seven sacks on the day, with a pair coming from Marquiss Spencer.
The key now for MSU is to not let this win get to their heads. Sure, it is huge defeating the No. 6 team on the road, but the Bulldogs must now move on, going back home to host an upset-minded Arkansas team.
As for LSU, it is definitely not time to hit the panic button. Brennan will get better over time, especially if he could get more help from his running game.
One bright spot for the Tigers this year is the linebacking corps which shined Saturday. Both Ali Gaye and Jabril Cox stood out to me with their playmaking abilities.
