Terry Wilson (Kim Klement/USA TODAY Sports)
Justin Rowland • CatsIllustrated.com
@RowlandRIVALS
Everyone's focus was rightfully on Kentucky and Florida, but we learned a lot more about college football and the SEC in particular over the weekend.
Here are 10 thoughts on Week 2 of the college football season, with a special emphasis on what everything means for Kentucky.
1. Jimbo Fisher appears to have a football team.
It's not that anybody thought Texas A&M was going to be awful this year, but as the Clemson-Texas A&M line opened and then started growing, in Clemson's favor, it seemed to be a reminder that the general consensus, on Fisher's aggies, was that they've got some work to do. Texas A&M isn't a finished product but after a 28-26 loss to one of the four or five best teams in college football, even at home, it might be safe to say the Aggies could be a problem this year.
Facing what many believe is the best defensive line in college football, Kellen Mond completed 23/40 passes for 430 yards, three touchdowns and no picks. While Dan Mullen was coveted by Florida for his work with quarterbacks, Jimbo Fisher's got a pretty good track record with those guys, too.
The Aggies mostly bottled up the Clemson ground attack and although Kelly Bryant and Trevor Lawrence had success through the air, it was a great overall showing for A&M in a losing effort. That SEC West schedule is brutal, but they could be a problem this year. And remember, Kentucky has to travel to College Station.
2. Georgia sends a message, South Carolina gets a reality check.
It might be a battle for 2nd place in the SEC East after Georgia went into Columbia, S.C., and beat the Gamecocks 41-17. The most optimistic Kentucky fans might not want to hear that, but it's tough to see Georgia hitting many bumps in the road with Jake Fromm surrounded by so many weapons in the passing game and the likes of Elijah Holyfield and D'Andre Swift providing balance. Georgia made South Carolina completely one dimensional and that was too much for Jake Bentley to handle.
So the bad news is that late season game against Georgia looks daunting, even after significant losses for the Bulldogs following last season. The worse news is, if Georgia looks this good after those losses, it's fair to wonder if Smart is building an Alabama-style machine in Athens, with no end in sight. The good news is the South Carolina game in Lexington appears to be very winnable, and the Cats have proven they match up well.
3. What an ugly start to the year for the Cardinals.
The weather obviously made for an ugly game but Louisville's uninspiring 31-7 home win against Indiana State probably didn't help Cardinal fans find their confidence after that beatdown at the hands of the Crimson Tide in Week 1. Louisville's only score of the first half was Rodjay Burns' punt return for a touchdown and Jawon Pass couldn't get anything going through the air. Malik Cunning (6/7, 75 yards, TD) did look better and that situation will be interesting to watch moving forward.
Bobby Petrino's team might find its footing, but they have a long way to go. And right now UK's chances at the Cards, with the game still so far out, look better than they did before the start of the season.
4. Mississippi State-Kentucky is going to be a street fight.
Nick Fitzgerald isn't good enough to be a serious Heisman Trophy contender. The Bulldogs' quarterback completed just 11/27 passes in Manhattan, Kan., in Mississippi State's 31-10 road victory against the purple Wildcats of the Big XII. But, man, he and those Bulldogs can run the football. Joe Moorhead's inaugural Mississippi State team bludgeoned Bill Snyder's Cats to the tune of 384 yards on the ground, with Kylin Hill accounting for more than 200 of those yards en route to SEC Offensive Player of the Week honors..
It's very early but Moorhead appears to be a good fit for Mississippi State. He's a bright offensive mind who has inherited a loaded, physical, mature squad on both sides of the ball. That UK-Mississippi State game in Lexington later this month is going to be a hard-hitting, bruising, run-dominated affair.
5. This could be the year the SEC becomes known for offense.
While several SEC programs do have quarterback riddles to solve, with Fitzgerald, Fromm, Drew Lock, Bentley, Tua Tagavailoa, Jarrett Stidham, Kyle Shurmur, Jordan Ta'amu and some upstarts (including Terry Wilson), the league's crop of quarterbacks appears to be better than it has been in a very long time. If the SEC has had a lingering issue during the past decade it has been lackluster or average quarterback play. The league is still a line of scrimmage war, game in and game out, but it's also the first conference to top 1,000 points in the early 2018 season.
Alabama has a top five offense, Ole Miss appears capable of lighting up anybody, A&M torched Clemson through the air, LSU looked competent against Miami in Week 2, Georgia hasn't missed a beat ... and we could go on down the list.
The SEC could really change the way its viewed offensively this year with more programs opening things up and this renaissance behind center.
6. Give Herm Edwards credit where credit is due.
If you thought Herm Edwards at Arizona State, with his oddball restructuring of a program's internal organization in the offseason, seemed doomed to be a train wreck, well, you weren't alone. But the Sun Devils are suddenly 2-0 after beating Michigan State 16-13 in a game that started ridiculously late (10:45 p.m. EST). Neither team could run the ball but ASU gutted one out against a Michigan State program that has sometimes been slow to start a season. At the very least, it's already time to give Edwards some due. You don't have to concede he's going to be wildly successful, but maybe he knows what he's doing.
7. Once again, the Pac-12 doesn't have a national title contender.
The Pac-12 is the only major conference that does not appear to have a true national championship contender this year. With all apologies to Stanford, which is undefeated and looking like a very good team, the conference seems destined to take a back seat to the other Power Five leagues in terms of elite squads. The nation's top teams so far appear to be, in some order, Alabama, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Clemson and Georgia (in other words: What else is new?). Washington's playoff hopes aren't over but they've already lost to Auburn. USC was just completely shut down by Stanford. The league might be shut out of the College Football Playoff for the second straight year and for quite some time it has struggled in marquee games against great teams from other leagues.
8. Larry Fedora should be on the hot seat.
I'm not saying UNC's head coach should be on the hot seat for offseason comments he made about CTE, football safety, America, etc. I'm saying he should be on the hot seat because his program appears to be in free fall mode. North Carolina was terrible last season and they just lost to East Carolina 41-19 after dropping its season-opener against California for the second straight year. Yes, that same ECU team that lost to North Carolina A&T in its opener. Fedora is an offensive-minded coach without an offense. Things could get very ugly in Chapel Hill, and when that happens so deep into a coach's tenure, that's tough to recover from. Making matters worse is the fact that rivals Duke and NC State appear to be on solid footing. That's an optics problem. They're the worst FBS team in the state, including ECU and Appalachian State. Sixth best. Tough to believe.
9. Can we please calm down with the Jeff Brohm hype?
Two things can be true even if they're rarely both voiced by the same people: Jeff Brohm has done a really nice job at Purdue, but he might not be the miracle worker some have made him out to be. The Boilermakers surprised a lot of college football's punditry in reaching a bowl game and playing much better than expected in Brohm's first season last year, but they're now 0-2 after losing at home to Northwestern to start the season and, most recently, dropping another home game to ... Eastern Michigan. Now, EMU actually has a quality Group of Five program and played Kentucky tough in Lexington last season. But it's a monumental disappointment anytime a power conference team drops one of those games. With the Big Ten West appearing to be on the rise, to some degree, Brohm might have a harder time sustaining success and keeping his reputation than it once seemed.
10. Terry Wilson still needs your patience.
One UK-related thought. Fans, at least those on social media, were quick to pounce every time Terry Wilson committed a turnover against CMU or Florida. The frustration was understandable. Five first half turnovers in two games is not good. There's no denying that. But hopefully by now fans can recognize that Wilson's athleticism puts him in elite company and he's got enough arm to make him a very promising quarterback prospect who really could take Kentucky's offense to another level. There will be more lows, more turnovers, more frustrations. Be patient with him. He's worth it.
