The SEC opened its 92nd football season with 16 non-conference games and posted a 13-3 record. Here are 10 stats from SEC Football by the Numbers about Week 1:
1 Alabama player has passed for at least three touchdowns and run for at least two touchdowns in the same game – QB Jalen Milroe, who did so for the third time in the Crimson Tide’s past 15 games in Saturday’s 63-0 victory over Western Kentucky, when he had three TD passes and two TD runs. In last season’s 56-7 season-opening victory over Middle Tennessee, Milroe also had three TD passes and two TD runs. In Alabama’s 49-21 victory over Kentucky on Nov. 11, Milroe had three TD passes and three TD runs.
2 Fumbles led to South Carolina’s touchdowns in the Gamecocks’ 23-19 victory over Old Dominion on Saturday. South Carolina recovered a fumble at the ODU 3-yard line 48 seconds into the game and scored three snaps later. The Monarchs also lost a fumble at their 6-yard line leading 19-16 with 6:48 to play, and the Gamecocks took the lead two snaps later. Old Dominion also scored two TDs in the game, both on 75-yard series.
2 TDs for Southern Cal running back Jo’quavious “Woody” Marks in a 27-20 victory over LSU on Sunday, the same number he scored in four games against the Tigers while playing for Mississippi State. Marks scored on a 13-yard run with eight seconds remaining to break the Trojans’ tie with LSU on Sunday after he’d opened the scoring with a 2-yard run. While at Mississippi State, Marks ran for 196 yards and one TD on 33 carries and caught 12 passes for 64 yards and one TD as the Bulldogs posted a 1-3 record against LSU.
3 SEC teams scored at least 70 points in Week 1 after three had done so in the previous three seasons. Ole Miss defeated Furman 76-0 for the Rebels’ largest margin of victory since a 92-0 victory over Memphis on Sept. 28, 1935. Arkansas converted all nine of its third-down snaps and scored a TD on all 10 of its possessions in a 70-0 victory over Arkansas-Pine Bluff. Auburn’s margin of victory in its 73-3 win against Alabama A&M was its largest since a 77-0 rout of Erskine on Oct. 1, 1932. SEC teams also posted the two highest yardage totals in the nation in Week 1. Ole Miss’ 772 yards ranked second in school history behind the 826 gained in a 70-21 victory over Louisiana-Monroe on Oct. 6, 2018. Tennessee’s production in a 69-3 victory over Chattanooga on Saturday tied the second-most yards in a single game in school history. The 718 yards rank behind only the 724 yards gained by the Volunteers in a 66-24 victory over Missouri on Nov. 12, 2022.
3 Consecutive snaps by the Auburn offense ended in touchdowns in Saturday’s 73-3 victory over Alabama A&M. After RB Jarquez Hunter scored the Tigers’ first TD on a 34-yard run on the game’s fourth snap, QB Payton Thorne threw TD passes of 67 yards to KeAndre Lambert-Smith and 44 yards to Cam Coleman on the Auburn offense’s next two plays.
13 Alabama players have posted 100-yard receiving yards in the Crimson Tide’s season-opening game, including WR Ryan Williams, who had TD receptions for 84 and 55 yards in Saturday’s 63-0 victory over Western Kentucky. Williams is the first Alabama freshman with at least 100 receiving yards in a season-opening game. The only other player with a 100-yard receiving game while making his Alabama debut in a season-opening game is Jameson Williams against Miami (Fla.) in 2021, but Williams played two seasons at Ohio State before joining the Tide. The other Alabama players with 100-yard receiving games in season-openers include Richard Williamson in 1962, Dennis Homan in 1966 and 1967, David Bailey in 1970, Quincy Jackson in 1998, Antonio Carter and Freddie Milons in 2001, Keith Brown in 2006, Marquis Maze in 2011, Amari Cooper in 2014, ArDarius Stewart in 2016 and Jaylen Waddle in 2020.
41 Points were scored by Miami (Fla.) on Saturday in the Hurricanes’ 24-point victory over Florida -- the most points yielded by the Gators in a season-opening game in program history. The record had been 35. In 1978, Florida opened the season with a 35-25 loss to SMU in Orlando. In 2020, the Gators opened the season with a 51-35 victory over Ole Miss in Oxford. Before Saturday’s loss, Florida had won 29 in a row when starting the season in Gainesville, 34 consecutive home openers and 50 straight when kicking off the season with a home game against a non-conference opponent.
300 Victories for Ole Miss at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium after the Rebels defeated Furman 76-0 at their Oxford field on Saturday. Ole Miss has a 300-116-8 on-the-field record at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium, starting with a 10-0 loss to Arkansas State on Oct. 1, 1915. Ole Miss got its first victory at the stadium one week later by beating Rhodes 13-6.
451 Passing yards for Auburn in the Tigers’ 73-3 victory over Alabama A&M on Saturday – the second-most in program history. Auburn had 456 passing yards in a 55-44 loss to Alabama in 2014. Auburn QB Payton Thorne completed 13-of-21 passes for 322 yards with four TDs and no interceptions before departing on Saturday. His performance was the 10th with 300 passing yards and four TD passes in school history. He was preceded by Pat Sullivan against Florida in 1970, Stan White against Cal State-Fullerton in 1990, Dameyune Craig against Mississippi State in 1996 and Louisiana Tech in 1997, Ben Leard against Georgia in 1999, Daniel Cobb against Louisiana Tech in 2001, Cam Newton against Chattanooga and South Carolina in 2010 and Jarrett Stidham against Purdue in 2018.
445 Yards and six TDs were accounted for by QB Jaxson Dart in the first half of Ole Miss’ 76-0 victory over Furman on Saturday. Dart completed 22-of-27 passes for 418 yards with five TDs and no interceptions and ran six times for 27 yards and one TD, then didn’t play in the second half. Another big first half in the SEC on Saturday was turned in by Tennessee QB Nico Iamaleava in a 69-3 victory over Chattanooga. Iamaleava completed 22-of-28 passes for 314 yards with three TDs and no interceptions to set a school record for passing yards in a half.
The complete SEC scoreboard for Week 1 includes:
· Alabama 63, Western Kentucky 0
· Arkansas 70, Arkansas-Pine Bluff 0
· Auburn 73, Alabama A&M 3
· Miami (Fla.) 41, Florida 17
· Georgia 34, Clemson 3
· Kentucky 31, Southern Miss 0
· Southern Cal 27, LSU 20
· Mississippi State 56, Eastern Kentucky 7
· Missouri 51, Murray State 0
· Oklahoma 51, Temple 3
· Ole Miss 76, Furman 0
· South Carolina 23, Old Dominion 19
· Tennessee 69, Chattanooga 3
· Texas 52, Colorado State 0
· Notre Dame 23, Texas A&M 13
· Vanderbilt 34, Virginia Tech 27, OT
