Week 2 SEC Takeaways: 'Horns, Vols, Gamecocks Earn Big Wins

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Week 2 of Southeastern Conference football provided plenty of storylines. Here's the water cooler fodder that SEC fans are talking about after an entertaining Week 2 slate.

SEC Teams Rise to Occasion...

South Carolina, Texas and Tennessee weren't treated to cupcake opponents in Week 2, but the final scores would indicate otherwise. South Carolina started SEC play with a road trip to Lexington, Ky. The Gamecocks whipped the Kentucky Wildcats in every facet of the game, earning a 31-6 road victory. After a flat performance against Old Dominion in Week 1, Saturday's win could go down as a defining victory in head coach Shane Beamer's South Carolina tenure.

No. 2 Texas was also faced with a difficult road trip to Michigan. But like the Gamecocks walked out of Ann Arbor, Mich., without breaking a sweat. A 31-12 final score made the game look a lot closer than it actually was. If the Longhorns continue to play as well as they have early, a trip to the SEC championship game almost seems guaranteed.

Tennessee earned the flashiest win of the day, however. The Volunteers dismantled a North Carolina State squad that looked thoroughly outmatched. The Wolfpack kept the game competitive in the first half, but Volunteers head coach Josh Heupel's offense was too much for NC State to handle in the final two quarters in a 51-10 Tennessee victory.

...as Arkansas, Auburn and Mississippi St. fall flat

Meanwhile, Arkansas, Auburn and Mississippi State all fell to Power Four teams on Saturday. Arkansas had the most embarrassing loss of the three teams, giving away a 21-7 lead before eventually falling in double overtime to No. 13 Oklahoma State. The Razorbacks are much better than their 2023 team, but closing out games continues to be Sam Pittman's Achilles heel as head coach.

On the plains of Auburn, quarterback Payton Thorne and the Tigers' offense mostly was silent. A 21-14 loss to a middling California squad doesn't spur much hope that Auburn can be a contender this season. Auburn's SEC opener against Arkansas on Sept. 21 could be the defining game of head coach Hugh Freeze's second season.

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In the scorching desert of Tempe, Ariz., Mississippi State was sweating bullets. While the Bulldogs were able to make Saturday's score against Arizona State look respectable with a couple of late scores, a 30-23 loss doesn't bode well for first-year head coach Jeff Lebby. Like Auburn, the Bulldogs' SEC opener against Florida on Sept. 21 could be crucial in determining the fate of Mississippi State's 2024 season.

Time to Worry About Blue Bloods?

Oklahoma, Alabama and LSU all won on Saturday, but they did so in dubious circumstances. Coming off of a beatdown of Temple, No. 15 Oklahoma's offense was in no Oklahoma land rush to reach the end zone. Only a safety on Houston's final drive put a nail in the coffin for the Sooners. Sixteen points in SEC contests will do little good for OU, whose conference opener with Tennessee looms on Sept. 21.

In Tuscaloosa, Ala., Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne was likely deleting South Florida's athletic department from his cell phone contacts. For the second straight year, USF gave the Crimson Tide all it could handle. But the Bulls grew tired in the fourth quarter and allowed the Tide to run up the score. A 42-16 final may sound like a comfortable win, but it was anything but.

The two teams went to the fourth quarter with Alabama leading by just one point. Former head coach Nick Saban, who had the field inside Bryant-Denny Stadium named for him on Saturday, probably looked on with disapproval. A crucial SEC matchup with No. 1 Georgia looms on Sept. 28, and first-year head coach Kalen Deboer has a lot of things to clean up if the Tide want to have a chance.

Like Alabama, a late surge made LSU's 44-21 win over Nicholls State look a lot prettier than it was. In the second quarter, the Tigers led by as little as two points and had a nine-point advantage at halftime. SEC talent wore down Nicholls in the second half, but it may be time to start worrying about head coach Brian Kelly's group, who has played uninspired football to begin 2024.