First but not lasting impressions

Published 6:00 pm Friday, September 8, 2017

Ah, yes, you’re already falling into the trap again, aren’t you?

The first full week of the college season in the books and first impressions are everything right now.

So you’re taking that information and quickly thumbing down the rest of the schedule and marking W’s and L’s based solely on what you saw last weekend.

I’ve warned you about such foolishness before, but you never learn do you? Don’t worry. Neither do I.

The business of a team making the biggest improvement from Week 1 to Week 2 is a crock and a half. But they almost never stay the same, either. Right now it’s all we’ve got.

So just for grins, and based solely on one week’s results, let’s go through the SEC and figure out what we think we know (but don’t).

Keep in mind this isn’t a power ranking of the teams right now — although you’ll recognize No. 1 — it’s just a ranking of what the season’s first impression was compared to what all the expectations were. 

1. Alabama: Well, who else? The Tide were expected to look like the No. 1 team in the country and they did with a fairly comfortable 24-7 win over Florida State in what may be Bama’s toughest game. Alabama lost two starting linebackers for the season, and — next up! — gets no sympathy. All it produced was yawns.

2. South Carolina: The Gamecocks had the closest thing to a surprise win, 35-28 over North Carolina State, a team that seemed to be everybody’s darling during the offseason. South Carolina gave up a lot of yards but seemed to have control of the game throughout. Suddenly becomes a contender in the East (which looks as overall muddled as ever).

3. LSU: May get a better picture of what last week really meant after BYU plays Utah this week. But I don’t know what more LSU could have done. The Tigers left some points off the board in a 27-0 victory, but if you were double-checking the preseason question marks, LSU checked off every box like it had been practicing or something. LSU just looked like a talented, very well-coached team. Ought to get extra credit for actually bringing home a college victory in under 3 hours — 2 hours, 56 minutes, to be exact, which I didn’t think was possible in today’s world.

4. Tennessee: I guess. I’d really like for the Vols to properly explain themselves and how they beat Georgia Tech 42-41 in double OT. But it was a rare toss-up game going in, and the Vols did win (didn’t they?) so they don’t have to apologize for giving up 655 yards. Not saying it was luck, but it looked like it had Les Miles fingerprints from his Cheshire Cat days all over it.

5. Auburn: Everybody’s heartthrob to challenge Alabama, Auburn hasn’t always handled preseason expectations. The Tigers at the least held serve in a 41-7 win over Georgia Southern, a tricky offense to handle. 

6. Vanderbilt: The Vandy defense was as good as ever in a 26-6 win at Middle Tennessee State. And the Commodores actually got some quarterback play from Kyle Shurmur. Something to build on.

7. Georgia: Beat Appalachian State, 31-10, just like the Dawgs should. Gets extra credit for losing starting quarterback Jacob Eason and not missing a beat when true freshman Jake Fromm was summoned from the bench. Will know a lot more this week after going to Notre Dame.

8. Ole Miss: With the chaotic summer the Rebels had, anything could have happened against any opponent, so taking care of South Alabama 47-27 was at least a sigh of relief. Quarterback Shea Patterson came as advertised.

9. Kentucky: Went on the road and beat a decent Southern Miss team 24-17. It’s the kind of game the ’Cats are better known for losing, so there’s that.

10T. Mississippi State and Arkansas: Neither did anything wrong, but we’re going to need more data points than lopsided wins over Charleston Southern and Florida A&M, respectively.

12. Missouri: The Tigers had a bazillion yards — probably more like 815 -— while scoring a million points (OK, 72, I think it was) against something called Missouri State. That’s all fine and good. Just a wild guess, but that’s not likely to continue against SEC teams. And if something called Missouri State can score 43 against the Tigers, conference offenses must be installing starting blocks in the backfield.

13. Texas A&M: The Gag ‘ems certainly had the most embarrassing loss for the SEC in blowing a 34-point third-quarter lead and falling to UCLA 45-45. So the rest of the conference schools get the pleasure of watching a coach, Kevin Sumlin, twist and turn on the hottest seat in America. Grab popcorn. But the Aggies get the nod over Florida to avoid last place because they evidently did do something right to get that big lead in first place. Yeah, the finish might need some work.

14. Florida: The Gators, on the other hand, did nothing right. Florida supposedly had a quarterback and an offensive line — both new developments — and yet the offense didn’t score a touchdown in a 33-17 loss to Michigan. Both TDs were pick-sixes, which were rare bright spots for a defense that got run over. Florida, which canceled Saturday’s home game against Northern Colorado, has to be better than this. Has to be.

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Scooter Hobbs covers LSU athletics. Email him at

shobbs@americanpress.com