Last season, when we were at GeauxTuscaloosa, we did a little feature called the GeauxTuscaloosa SEC Offensive Skill Position Player of the Week.  It's a feature that will be migrated to this site.

The award, as its name implies, honors the only people the Heisman Trophy ever honors as the greatest player.  It honors someone who is in a position to put up a lot of numbers.  I simply cannot sit here at my computer and evaluate the play of a linebacker that I did not watch, but I can read a recap and look at a boxscore with the best of them.

Since last year was my first year of blogging, some things need some tweaking the second time around.  Last year, we just picked the gaudiest statline and awarded the player associated with that statline the award.  This year, we're going to take quality of competition into account a lot more.

This week, there really aren't a lot of gaudy statlines to choose from.  Honestly, this is one of the harder ATVSSECOSPPOW award decisions I've made.  The most impressive lines of the week are probably Matthew Stafford's (13 for 21, 275 yards, 2 touchdown passes, 0 interceptions), Casey Dick's (25 for 41, 318 yards, 2 touchdown passes, 1 interception, 2 touchdown rushes), and LSU's Charles Scott's (16 rushes for 160 yards, 2 touchdowns, 1 reception for 14 yards).  All of those, however, came against FCS competition, and so all get downgraded for that reason.  Heck, Casey Dick barely even won.

via images.tuscaloosanews.com

After much thought and consideration, the ATVSSECOSPPOW for Week #1 of the 2008 season goes to John Parker Butthead.  I mean, John Parker Wilson, quarterback for the Alabama Crimson Tide.  The statline is not spectacular, but is pretty good.  He was 22 of 30, 180 yards, 2 touchdowns, 0 interceptions, 4 rushes for 19 yards, 1 rushing touchdown.

The stats are solid, even if they won't generate any Hall of Fame talk.  And yes, I have certainly been critical of Wilson in the past (who hasn't been?).  On Saturday night, however, he was accurate, efficient, careful, and poised, everything he has at times failed to be in the past.  He also did it against the highest level of competition any SEC team faced this week.

Honorable Mention:

via www.nashvillecitypaper.com

It really was a tough call, and I almost went with Chris Nickson of Vanderbilt.  His passing numbers were very ho-hum (9 for 16, 91 yards, 1 touchdown, 0 interceptions), but he dominated the game against Miami (Ohio) with his legs (20 carries, 166 yards, 2 touchdowns).  

It's easy to forget, but Vandy was actually the underdog in this game, if you believe the Vegas line.  Nickson dominated, and Vandy won rather handily, 34-13.  Nickson scored all of Vandy's touchdowns either by throwing or running, until the game was safely in hand and Vandy's running back got one into the end zone.

It is safe to say, without Nickson, Vandy probably loses that game.  Perhaps this is a return to the 2006 Nickson, who looked dangerous, and on the verge of being an excellent player.  The 2007 Nickson was awful, and lost the starting job.  Anyway, good show Chris Nickson.  I wish I had watched your game instead of that awful South Carolina vs. NC State matchup.

After going over Part 1 of the SEC's schedule yesterday, today we look at the the back half of the SEC's schedule in Week 1.

Auburn 34
UL-Monroe 0

If you think LSU fans are fretting about the team's quarterback situation, Auburn fans should be even more worried.  They had a similar quarterback "controversy" heading into their season, and neither quarterback even played mediocre in the passing game.

The quarterbacks alternated series, and Chris Todd finished 9 of 18 for 70 yards, 1 touchdown, and 1 interception.  Kodi Burns finished 4 of 9 for 15 yards, 0 touchdowns, and 0 interceptions.  That's a combined 3.1 yards per passing attempt with as many interceptions as touchdowns.  Yikes.  

The running game was solid, as Ben Tate went for 115 yards on 13 carries.  What Kodi Burns lacked in passing, he made up in running, averaging over 11 yards per rush.

Don't be fooled by the lopsided score though.  Auburn got a defensive touchdown and a special teams touchdown.  Without those, this game would not have been difficult, exactly, but the margin of victory wouldn't not have looked so great.  

Just judging by the stats, the defense was dominant, as expected.

Arkansas 28
Western Illinois 24

I thought Arkansas would be bad, but they needed a late touchdown to beat a pretty average FCS team.  In fact, WIU was ahead at one point 24-14.  It's strange to say this, but Casey Dick took this team on its back and carried them to victory, recording over 300 yards passing and accounting for all four touchdowns scored by Arkansas.

The running game was abysmal, and Arkansas will have to correct that to have any hope of having a decent season.

Ole Miss 41
Memphis 24

Ole Miss did not embarrass me as I feared they would, but the long awaited debut of Jevan Snead was only so-so.  He completed under 50% of his pass attempts, but had a very nice 8.4 yard average per attempt, with 2 touchdowns.  

This game was pretty much over by halftime, as Ole Miss built a 20 point lead in the second quarter and cruised to victory thereafter.

I have said that Ole Miss needs to find a running back, and it looks like they might have a committee.  Four different players carried the ball 6 times or more, and most had pretty decent success.  They unveiled the "Wild Rebel", Ole Miss's version of the Wild Hog from Houston Nutt's days at Arkansas, with Dexter McCluster standing in for Darren McFadden.  McCluster's good, but he's not in McFadden's league, but they used the formation effectively in this game.

I stand by my assessment that Ole Miss is going to be a tough team.

Bama 34
Clemson 10

I'm sure most of you saw this game, such as it was.  I went on record saying I thought Alabama was overmatched, and that sure did not bear out here.  Frankly, I think Clemson just never got off the bus.  Bama came out with a ton of energy, and Clemson just looked overwhelmed by it.  When the Clemson defense stopped Bama and held them to field goal on their second possession, I thought they had survived the initial wave and would start playing real football.  They never did.

Bama looked solid in all phases, and the vaunted freshman class was productive all around.  Julio Jones caught 4 passes.  Mark Ingram had almost 100 yards rushing.  Don'ta Hightower recovered a fumble.  John Parker Wilson had one of his best nights as an Elephant, completing 22 of 30 for 180 yards and 2 touchdowns passing, adding a rushing touchdown as well.  There will be more on that later today.

Kentucky 27
Louisville 2

The Kentucky defense was dominant, pitching a shutout, as the only Louisville points came on an intentional grounding penalty called on the UK quarterback in his own end zone.  Don't let the score fool you, however.  Kentucky's offense was pretty much awful.

Kentucky scored 2 defensive touchdowns, and scored an offensive touchdown on a drive that started on Louisville's 9 yard line.  One of their field goals came on a drive that started inside the Louisville 40 yard line.  The offense only had one drive go for more than 33 yards.

Kentucky didn't have a running back rush for more than 27 yards on the game, and new quarterback Mike Hartline averaged less than 5 yards per pass attempt.  Louisville's offense was awful, though, and allowed Kentucky to win this game.  Credit the Wildcat defense however, with stifling Louisville.  

UCLA 27
Tennessee 24

In another black eye for the SEC, the Tennessee Volunteers went to the West Coast and lost to a team that was playing its 3rd string quarterback.  They lost despite a #2 turnover advantage.  They lost despite the fact that their stud running back averaged over 7 yards per carry.  They lost despite scoring a defensive touchdown.  They lost despite giving up 0.9 yards per carry rushing.

How did they lose this game?  Mainly, they lost it because their offense did not finish drives.  Frankly, I think they threw the ball way too much.  Jonathan Crompton threw the ball 41 times, which is kind of crazy when your best player is your running back and you were playing with the lead most of the night.

The defense was dominant, but the offense let them down. This seems to be a theme this year so far.  SEC defenses dominate lesser competition while SEC offenses struggle.  This is the story with LSU, Auburn, South Carolina, Kentucky, and Tennessee.

Discuss all games other than App. St. vs. LSU here.  Will Georgia be able to take down mighty Georgia State?  Can ULM once again fend off a challenge from a team from the State of Alabama?  Does Bama have what it takes to beat Clemson?

All this and more is open for your discussion.

Two days ago, we profiled the first six games on the SEC schedule for this week.  Then Poseur did a follow-up.  No one pointed out that he misspelled "amok", however.  Today, we go through the last six, which has perhaps the most interesting matchup of the entire first week of the season regardless of conference.  And perhaps the 2nd most interesting matchup as well.

Saturday, 6:00pm Central:  Memphis vs. Ole Miss, no television

This is not a bad matchup, and I'm disappointed it's not on TV.  It's more exciting than Vandy vs. Miami (OH), and more exciting than MSU vs. La Tech, but oh well.  We do without.

I have gone on record as saying that I think Ole Miss will be a solid team this year.  Their first opportunity to embarrass me will come in this game.  These two teams play every year, and Ole Miss has won the last 3, but they've always played it tough.  Memphis is another of those teams that seems perpetually on the verge of being halfway decent, but never quite getting there.

This is a matchup of two teams that apparently feature rather good line play on both sides of the ball.  Some of Ole Miss's better linemen will miss the game with injuries, but if this Ole Miss team is ready to step up like I think, they should discard Memphis rather easily.  

Houston Nutt will get all the credit, but don't forget that Coach Orgeron put this team together personnel-wise.

Saturday, 6:00pm Central:  Western Illinois at Arkansas, no television

This is the stinkiest matchup of the week, as projected cellar-dweller Arkansas takes on FCS competition, and not even particularly good FCS competition.  Nothing will be learned about either.

Saturday, 6:00pm Central:  Louisiana-Monroe at Auburn, no television

The storyline for this game started last year, when ULM shocked Bama in what is probably the biggest win in its history.  It was simply a matter of Bama not showing up to play, as they were in the middle of an epic late-season collapse.  ULM didn't really look all that good in the game.  They were simply good enough to beat a team that looked like it wanted to be anywhere other than on a football field that particular day.

With ULM having beaten Bama, Auburn sets up some mild bragging rights, as they figure to easily trounce the Warhawks.  If this game was to be televised, you could get an early look at Auburn's new offense, and for that matter their new defense.  This is a game where they could work out the biggest and knottiest of the kinks, but the real tests come later.

Saturday, 7:00pm Central:  Bama vs. Clemson, neutral site, ABC

Easily the most interesting matchup in the SEC, or rather, it's the most interesting matchup that occurs before Monday.  In my opinion, a Monday college football game hardly even counts.

I'll be honest as I have been this whole offseason.  I think Bama is overmatched in this game.  Clemson has playmakers all over the offense, and Bama has to put together a front seven almost from scratch.  I'll tell you, I wouldn't want to go against James Davis and CJ Spiller if I was starting 3 new linebackers including at least one true freshman.  To make matters worse, Clemson is not strictly a running team, as they also have a quarterback and a receiver who would probably be All-SEC if they played in the SEC.

Glimmers of hope for Bama include the fact that Clemson has to break in a mostly new offensive line, but one wonders if Bama has the playmakers on the defensive line to take advantage.  

In addition to its explosive offense, Clemson has a very solid defensive unit as well, if you believe CFN.  While I do not always agree with CFN, in the absence of better information, I tend to go with them.  

The line on this game has remained close all offseason, but unless Clemson has a brain cramp, they appear to be clearly the better team right now.  It's never a good thing for the present to be highly reliant on incoming freshmen, and the pain will start here.  I think if Bama wins, it would be a very big upset.  I'm not saying it's impossible, but either Bama would have to be much better than I expect, Clemson much worse, or some strange confluence of events would have to combine to make this happen.

Oh, and if you want to get WAYYY too into the science of it all, check out this post at another site.

Sunday, 2:30pm Central:  Kentucky at Louisville, ESPN

This matchup is not what it used to be.  No wait.  It really is what it used to be.  It used to be a matchup of an average team against one of the worst teams in the SEC.  That's exactly what it is again.  

I am not a believer in Kentucky.  I think they went a long way with a group of player s who were seniors last year and are now gone and all but forgotten.  Andre Woodson, Jacob Tamme, Keenan Burton, Steve Johnson, and Raphael Little made up the core of Kentucky's best offense since Tim Couch was in town.  Heck, these guys might have been better than that group, but they're all gone.   The defense returns some starters, but is missing its best player from last year, LB Wesley Woodyard.

Louisville, for what it's worth, is coming off one of the most monumentally disappointing seasons in college football in 2007.  I am only mildly interested in this matchup.

Monday, 7:00pm Central:  Tennessee at UCLA, ESPN

Why is no one talking about this game?  Here we have the defending SEC East champs traveling all the way to the west coast to play a pretty decent team.  We have the debut of the golden boy, Rick Neuheisel, at UCLA and the hoped return to prominence for that franchise.  

Tennessee is just a criminally underhyped team this year.  They appear to be solid all around, and they're coming off a solid season.  They have one of the best running backs on the conference and a very strong offensive line.  They have good receivers and the best defensive back in the conference.  No one talks about them.

I'll be watching this game to see if I'm right about Tennessee.