Week 3 SEC football reactions
Week three provided yet another exciting week of college football, and with that comes more reactions in the SEC. What all can we learn from the SEC action this past week?
Tennessee running back #6 Alvin Kamara breaks open a run against Ohio on Sept. 17, 2016. Photo by Sumner Gilliam.
The 2016 college football season sure isn’t disappointing anyone so far. After a wild first two weeks, week three continued the trend with action-packed games, surprises and even a big-time performance by a Heisman front-runner.
In the SEC, though, there wasn’t quite as much action as the other conferences had on Saturday. However, there were still several things that could be taken away from the games.
Ole Miss doesn’t know how to hold a lead
Call me Captain Obvious on this one, but at this point it’s clear that the Ole Miss Rebels have no clue how to hold a lead against a quality opponent this season.
Through three weeks, the Rebels have had two chances against high-quality opponents to show what they could do. Both times, Ole Miss had a 21-plus point lead over a top five ranked team. Both times, Ole Miss blew the lead and lost the game.
Of all Power Five teams, Ole Miss is the first in the past decade to blow multiple three-touchdown leads in the same season. That’s not very good.
Ole Miss has the art of building big leads down to a science. However, they better learn how to hold those leads, or it’ll be a long season down in Oxford.
Texas A&M might be for real
Staying in the SEC West, remember how most people coming into the season believed the West to be a two-team race between Alabama and LSU, with Ole Miss perhaps making some noise?
Well, the two-team race part of the prediction was right, but the teams involved were not.
Rather than LSU and Ole Miss being the primary competition to Alabama, it has appeared that the Aggies of Texas A&M will be the second team that contends for the SEC West crown.
While LSU has struggled immensely at learning what an offense is, and Ole Miss with holding a lead, the Aggies have gone 3-0 and looked impressive while doing so.
They defeated then-ranked No. 16 UCLA to begin the year, demolished Prairie View A&M and looked good in defeating Auburn on the road this past Saturday, vaulting the Aggies to a top 10 ranking.
Trevor Knight has brought reliability to the Aggies’ passing game again, helping to establish offensive balance for perhaps the first time under Kevin Sumlin’s regime. Texas A&M has rushed for over 200 yards in all three games this season, keeping the Aggies undefeated under Sumlin when rushing for more than 200 yards.
The defense has also proven itself to be one of the best in the SEC. Showing the ability to shut down opposing offenses, the Aggies have only given up a total of 40 points on the year.
It may be too early to tell, but watch out for Texas A&M this season.
Missouri is a dark-horse team to watch for
Speaking of teams that the SEC should watch out for, the Missouri Tigers look to be better than anyone anticipated.
For years now, the story with Missouri has been that its defense was elite but the offense wasn’t good enough to win tough games.
That appears to have changed in 2016, and quarterback Drew Lock looks to be responsible.
The sophomore from Missouri is now the unquestionable starter for the Tigers, and he has shown why that was an excellent decision. Through three games, Lock has thrown for 1,106 yards – a school record for the first three games of a season.
The previous record holder was Chase Daniel, who was under center the last time Missouri really had an effective offense.
It’s premature to call Lock a great quarterback capable of matching Daniel’s production, but he’s off to a fantastic start. If Lock can consistently play at this level, Missouri’s offense should become a legitimate threat. And that would make the Tigers a realistic contender to win the SEC East this season.
Edited by Dalton King
Featured image by Sumner Gilliam
Adam is the Assistant Sports Editor for the Tennessee Journalist and a Junior at UT. Most of his free time is spent watching sports, listening to good music, and enjoying life. If you wish to contact him, you can email him at amillike@vols.utk.edu, follow him on Twitter, @AdamMilliken14, or find him at https://www.linkedin.com/pub/adam-milliken/109/a89/a32.
