In Case You Missed It: SEC Week 2

By Chris Marler

It was a very eventful Week 2 around all of college football, but it was especially wild around the SEC. It felt like there were multiple big time matchups in the national spotlight in every time slot all day. Or, at the very least, there were some great storylines that turned into fantastic finishes, big upsets, and things we definitely did not have on our SEC fan bingo card.

So, here’s what you may have missed in week two around the SEC.

DJ Lagway ended Graham Mertz’s career

Ok, that’s a very dramatic and embellished version of what happened in Florida vs Samford. BUT…it could be true. Florida played Samford in the one game on their 2024 schedule that they’re favored in. Freshman phenom DJ Lagway got the start while starting QB Graham Mertz was sidelined with a concussion.

To say Lagway made the most of the opportunity would be the understatement of the century.

Lagway completed 18 of 25 (72%) passes for 456 yards and 3 TDs. He had nine plays of 20 yards or more which was just one of many Gator freshman records that he absolutely shattered on Saturday night. Who knows what Napier decides to do when Mertz is back, but it’s going to be hard keeping the freshman off the field.

This is the play and throw.

You don’t need to be a football savant to realize only a handful of players on earth can make this play and throw.

DJ Lagway is one of them . pic.twitter.com/lU60gtSEJX

— Neil W. Blackmon (@nwblackmon) September 8, 2024

Josh Heupel: Defensive Mastermind 

For all the talk all summer long about Nico Iamaleava and the Vols offense, it was the defense that stole the show Saturday in Charlotte. Tennessee came into this neutral site non-conference showdown as an 8.5 point favorite, and a lot of “experts” were very adamant about NC State being a bad matchup for the Vols. They were wrong. Like, really wrong.

Sure Nico struggled a little, throwing his first two INTs of the season. But, the Vols left Charlotte with a 51-10 win over a Top 25 team and then woke up Sunday as a Top 7 team with legitimate playoff potential. Casual fans saw the box score and were distracted by the Vols putting up half a hundred. What they should’ve been more focused on is that the defense held the Wolfpack to three total offensive points and 143 total yards (including only 27 in the second half).

NC State’s drive chart read: Punt, Punt, Punt, Field Goal, Pick 6, Punt, Fumble, Turnover on Downs, Fumble, Turnover on Downs, Punt, Punt.

Yikes.

Shane Beamer owns Mark Stoops 

South Carolina went to Lexington as a nearly double-digit underdog after escaping with a miracle win over Old Dominion on opening weekend. Nobody gave Beamer or the Gamecocks much of a chance against Mark Stoops and company. After all, it wasn’t that long ago when Kentucky won seven games in eight years against USC.

Then Shane Beamer showed up, and apparently he is to Kentucky what Kirby is to everyone else. USC won their third straight game vs the Cats, beating them into submission, 31-6. The defense harassed Brock Vandagriff all day and dominated the line of scrimmage. It was the fourth straight season that they’ve held Kentucky to under 16 points.

Why is that important? Because in the last five seasons Kentucky was 1-16 when held to under 17 points. Make that 1-17 now.

This team. This program. pic.twitter.com/rx3WAzfrPg

— Gamecock Football (@GamecockFB) September 7, 2024

Bama and the Barn and Bipolar Brands of Football 

Week one couldn’t have gone better for both Alabama and Auburn. Bama kicked off the Kalen Deboer era with a 63-0 win. Auburn won by 70 and almost equaled their 2023 receiving touchdown production. Both teams and fanbases had a lot of confidence after Week 1.

Fast forward to week two, and it’s clear that both of these teams still have a TON of issues that were masked by beating inferior teams. Auburn lost to Cal as a two-touchdown favorite. Payton Thorne handed out interceptions like Jimmy Rane hands out NIL money. And don’t let the 42-16 final score from Tuscaloosa fool you. For the second year in a row Alabama was in an absolute dog fight with South Florida late into the third quarter.

Alabama starting OL vs. USF, via PFF charting:

LT: Tyler Booker (2 pressures, 2 penalties)
LG: Geno VanDeMark (0 pressures, 3 penalties)
C: Parker Brailsford (0 pressures, 0 penalties)
RG: Jaeden Roberts (2 pressures, 0 penalties)
RT: Wilkin Formby (4 pressures, 4 penalties)

— Nick Kelly (@_NickKelly) September 8, 2024

QB play at Auburn and OL issues at Bama were both issues that were expected to be fixed or at least improved from last season to this season. But yesterday showed us that is absolutely not the case. The Auburn offense had five turnovers against Cal and couldn’t manufacture any consistency moving the football. As for Bama, their offensive line was just as brutal as it was a season ago when they allowed a program record 49 sacks. Bama had 13 total penalties, and nine of them were on the offensive line. At one point in the second and third quarter Alabama had five straight drives that accounted for a total of -23 yards.

Jaxson Dart may be Kiffin’s best weapon. Ever. 

Lane Kiffin is an offensive mastermind, so everyone should’ve expected a big season for Jaxson Dart heading into year three as the starter. But, not like this. He’s putting up numbers we have rarely seen under Lane. If ever. And that’s saying something.

Sure, you can blame it on the competition he’s faced so far if you want. Or you could call a spade a spade and say you’re a little scared of how good this Ole Miss team can be. It’s not the total yards or the TDs that are most impressive, even though through two games Jaxson Dart is averaging nearly 400 yards and four TDs per game. It’s the accuracy and efficiency. He’s completed 87 percent of his passes so far this season. Dart had just five games in the last two years where he completed over 70 percent of his passes. On Saturday, he set an SEC record with 24 straight completions to start the game. On the season he has more total touchdowns than incompletions.