Power ranking the SEC after week 1: Texas A&M football falls, UF plummets, UT rises

Power ranking the SEC after week 1: No. 8 - LSU

Another year, another season-opening loss for a Brian Kelly squad. I suppose we can’t really say those are predictive, given how the last two seasons turned out, but I’ll try to analyze the more granular aspects of this one as best I can.

First, I was struck by just how poor the offensive line looked here. Southern Cal has some talent up front, but this is supposed to be one of the best lines in the nation; they were having a lot of trouble getting consistent push against a… Big 10 team, I guess. That would have sounded worse if I said PAC-12, but Southern Cal is Big 10 now. You get my point.

The defense looked improved, but not wildly so. Especially at the defensive back spot, it could be a long year. Again, Harold Perkins is being underutilized. Hopefully they don’t figure that out before they come to Kyle Field on October 26, but I wasn’t too impressed with Blake Baker after game 1. 

Finally, Nussmeier is really a gunslinger, but I think that could end up costing the Tigers significantly. He would repeatedly scramble one way and throw back across his body, and that’s a cardinal sin of QB play. 

They’ve got some time before their next marquee matchup, but they certainly have some kinks to work out. This did not look like one of the best offenses in college football, but it’s game one against a quality opponent, so we can forgive that somewhat and reserve judgment.