1) SEC's Year of the Freshman QB

While most college programs shudder at the thought of throwing true freshmen into the starting quarterback role, we've seen four SEC schools start freshmen at quarterback. One of them, Mississippi State's Trey Rutland, was replaced this Saturday by veteran Omarr Connor (MSU finally scored, but still lost 32-29 to Tulane). The other, South Carolina's Chris Smelley, didn't play, as Spurrier decided on veteran Syvelle Newton. However, after Carolina's 27-20 nailbiter over 1-AA Wofford, it wouldn't be a surprise to see Smelley taking the snaps.

The other two, who were the top two ranked high school quarterbacks in the nation by every publication going, played well in leading their respective schools to victories last week. Mitch Mustain (Arkansas) was 13/20 for 224 yards, throwing 3 touchdowns and 1 interception in a 21-19 win over Vanderbilt. Matt Stafford (Georgia) was 10/17 for 107 yards, rushing for 1 touchdown and throwing 0 INTs in a 34-0 win over UAB.

2) Defense, Defense, Defense

Our road trip crew has been to four games this year, and defense has dominated three of those four games. On the Sept. 9th game between Tennessee and California, the two teams combined to score 53 points (Tennessee won 35-18). The other three games that we've seen (S. Carolina/Miss. State, Georgia/S. Carolina, and Auburn/LSU) have produced a grand combined total of 43 points.

3) Stacking the Line

How many SEC running backs rushed for over 100 yards this weekend?
The answer: One

That's right...only Florida's DeShawn Wynn broke the century mark this weekend in the SEC, rushing for 104 yards in Florida's 21-20 win at Tennessee, as opposing defenses are heavily stacking the line to keep talented SEC backs at bay. Preseason All-SEC backs Darren McFadden (Arkansas) and Kenny Irons (Auburn) rushed for 71 and 68 yards, respectively, while Ole Miss's BenJarvis Green-Ellis rushed for 85 and Alabama's Kenneth Darby ran for 79. As of today, Irons still leads the SEC with an average of 107 yards a game, followed by McFadden with 99 yards a game.

However, Florida's potent passing attack opened the door for Wynn, and it might take a big spark in the passing game for some SEC schools to really compete for the title, not excluding #2 Auburn.