Wiedmer: Bama best, Kentucky worst of SEC's first weekend

Southern Mississippi running back George Payne tries to keep out of the grip of Kentucky cornerback Chris Westry in the second half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Sept. 3, 2016, in Lexington, Ky. Southern Mississippi won the game 44-35. (AP Photo/David Stephenson)
Southern Mississippi running back George Payne tries to keep out of the grip of Kentucky cornerback Chris Westry in the second half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Sept. 3, 2016, in Lexington, Ky. Southern Mississippi won the game 44-35. (AP Photo/David Stephenson)
photo Mark Wiedmer

Good thing the Southeastern Conference counts No. 1 Alabama, No. 18 Georgia and unranked Texas A&M among its 14 member institutions that reportedly play college football at its highest level.

Otherwise, the SEC might stand for Significantly Embarrassed Conference rather than Somewhat Embarrassed Conference this morning.

Because most of the rest of the league pretty much stunk up the sport this Labor Day weekend heading into tonight's showdown in Orlando, Fla., between No. 4 Florida State and No. 11 Ole Miss.

Let the Rebels perform as the majority of their SEC brothers have since Thursday night - when No. 9 Tennessee needed overtime to subdue visiting Appalachian State and South Carolina nipped Vanderbilt on a last-second field goal in one of the least inspiring games ever - and Florida State might win by 40 instead of the spread that had the Seminoles favored by five points.

But it's doubtless they could look any worse than Kentucky did Saturday night blowing a 35-10 second-quarter lead on its way to a 41-35 loss to visiting Southern Miss, which not only had a new head coach, but a new offensive coordinator in Shannon Dawson, fired by Kentucky at the close of last season.

Of course, Southern California fired Alabama offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin a few years ago, and we all saw the results of that move when the top-ranked Crimson Tide rolled over the Trojans 52-6 Saturday.

Because Kentucky athletic director Mitch Barnhart decided to give coach Mark Stoops a raise and extension in just his second year on the job, it now seems unlikely he'll be able to cut ties with him, because the buyout would be $12 million.

Or should it be $12 million, plus $400? According to a story on seccountry.com, a man called Kentucky Sports Radio after the loss to say Stoops owes him $400 because the second-half collapse made him mad enough to throw a Bud Light at his TV, apparently destroying it. Just imagine what damage there might have been beyond the TV if he'd thrown a regular Bud.

But if the Golden Eagles' KO of UK was arguably the SEC's most embarrassing loss of the weekend, it was far from the only head-scratcher for a league that prides itself as being SECond to none on the gridiron.

There's Mississippi State's stunning 21-20 home loss to South Alabama, which may make Dallas Cowboys fans happy (it's a pretty good indicator of how much rookie quarterback Dak Prescott meant to the Bullies) but may make Starkville feel more stark than it has in years.

There's LSU's 16-14 loss to Wisconsin at the Green Bay Packers' iconic Lambeau Field. The loss itself may not be a huge embarrassment for the Bayou Bengals, but as the Ol' Ball Coach, Steve Spurrier, told ESPN's Chris Low on Saturday evening, "Why can LSU not get it right on offense? Every year, they have as much talent as anybody in the SEC, and that's including Alabama."

If LSU coach Les Miles and Spurrier were exchanging Christmas cards before this weekend, it's doubtful Spurrier can expect any such greetings this year.

And what about Florida, the program Spurrier coached to the 1996 national championship? The current Gators' 24-7 win over UMass doesn't sound like the way you want to enter conference play, but with Kentucky on tap for Saturday, they can at least ease into the season, knowing they've won 29 straight against Big Boo Hoo.

If there's a mystery among the weekend's SEC results, it might be Auburn, which fell fiercely against No. 2 Clemson, losing 19-13 at home.

Yet the SEC's best efforts were turned in by Bama, Georgia and Texas A&M, which all won against quality foes. The scariest quote from any of those teams came from Tide coach Nick Saban: "We got off to a little bit of a shaky start in the first quarter, especially on offense. We scored a lot of points, made a lot of big plays, but still our consistency in execution needs to be much improved."

In other news, Usain Bolt is reportedly concerned about his first steps out of the starting block.

Where all this ends for all 14 SEC schools is uncertain. Clearly, every SEC team that lost - and at least a couple who won (are you listening, Tennessee?) - needs to quickly improve its consistency in execution to have any chance at the six wins needed for a bowl bid.

But no one looks as uncertain on both sides of the ball as Kentucky, which has now been outscored 58-zip in the second half - that crucial time after coaches reportedly make adjustments - over its past two games, against Southern Miss and Louisville (at the close of last season) after building 17-point halftime leads in each contest.

And to think that Stoops was a highly respected defensive coordinator at Florida State before taking the Kentucky post prior to the 2013 season. Then again, the Seminoles so missed him they won the national championship the year after the Wildcats hired him.

It may have been just one game for everyone, and it is indeed a long enough season for much to change.

But for Kentucky, Missouri, Mississippi State, South Carolina and Vanderbilt, it already looks like a season destined to end at least one win shy of a bowl. And at Kentucky - which is the only one of those five not to have gone bowling at least once the past three seasons - that just might give its boosters $12 million worth of reasons to focus on a different SEC.

Settle Elongated Contract.

Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.

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