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What a wild opening week in college football. We saw Texas A&M collapse, Tennessee find a way, Florida look abysmal and South Carolina look legit. What does it all mean? It’s too early to totally write anyone off, but the landscape of the Southeastern Conference does feel a little different after just one week — at least in the east.
ESPN brought South Carolina all the way up to No. 5 overall after their fantastic performance against N.C. State. The Gamecocks got a little hype this offseason as a sleeper, but through one week they look like much more than that. That offense feels like it could do some damage with Jake Bentley and Deebo Samuel.
As South Carolina rose, Florida plummeted to No. 8. Granted -- the Gators’ offense was missing Jordan Scarlett and Antonio Callaway against Michigan, but that’s no excuse to only muster up three offensive points. Without two defensive scores, this one would have gotten really ugly. The Gators seem like they have the same problems as usual. We’ll see how they respond when they return to full strength.
The Georgia Bulldogs held firm at No. 4 after a solid outing against Appalachian State. Tennessee rose to No. 6 after surviving against Georgia Tech. We’ll learn a lot more about the Bulldogs this week against Notre Dame. We will likely know what we need to know about the Tennessee Volunteers after their trip to the swamp in a couple of weeks.
Vanderbilt is still too low in my mind at No. 13. They handled a pretty good MTSU squad in week one and have been trending up since last season. Kentucky at 11 and Missouri at 14 rounded out the SEC East.
SEC West powers Alabama, Auburn and LSU held firm at 1-3, respectively. The Texas A&M Aggies dropped all the way down to No. 9 after their historic collapse against the UCLA Bruins on Sunday night. It’s going to be fascinating to watch how they bounce back with Kevin Sumlin, who is openly on the hot seat already.