THE SEC REPORT
Texas A&M survives a battle, Alabama's defense looks vulnerable and Florida seems to have fixed its problems
Oct 1, 2019, 8:30 am
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Born with a comic book in one hand and a remote control in the other, Cory DLG is the talent of Conroe's very own Nerd Thug Radio and Sports. Check out the podcast replay of the FM radio show at www.nerdthugradio.com!
LAST WEEKEND
THE SEC wasn't too busy this week although A&M and Arkansas had themselves a slug fest in Jerry World. Alabama's defense continues to let inferior teams score points in bunches which is going to be a concern come SEC championship time and playoff weekends. Florida seems to have righted the ship completely and is sitting pretty in the top 10 for the first time in a while.
THE THREE STARS OF LAST WEEKEND
Tua Tagovailoa, quarterback, Alabama, had 7 total touchdowns last weekend. I'd say that's a good game, it's incredible the numbers some of these quarterbacks are putting up these days.
Kellen Mond, quarterback, Texas A&M, the offense felt inconsistent but he was able to overcome that and finish the game the right way and win a hard fought game, excellent job.
Ke'Shawn Vaughn, running back, Vanderbilt, got himself 138 yards and a touchdown on 17 carries and Vandy needed all of them to pull out a tight win against Northern Illinois.
THIS WEEKEND
On the upcoming slate of games there's a couple things to watch but most notably Auburn coming to Florida for a battle of the top tens, is this where Nix's run of magic ends? Missouri hosts Troy in what should be a nice undercard fight and Vanderbilt comes to Ole Miss for a great game.
PLAYERS TO WATCH THIS WEEKEND
Joe Burrow, quarterback, LSU, if you're playing college fantasy football Burrow is the points generator you dream of in the middle rounds and this week will probably be a three quarter example of why.
Larry Rountree III, running back, Missouri, the recipe for hard wins is run the ball and play defense so expect big numbers from Rountree.
D'Andre Swift, running back, Georgia, the bulldogs are on the road to Knoxville and Swift has to be hoping for about 15 great carries because the Volunteers aren't exactly stopping people these days.
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The Houston Texans have a big challenge in store as they look to start the season with a win against the Colts this Sunday. When these two teams met in Week 2 last year, the Colts dominated the Texans, despite losing their QB Anthony Richardson to a concussion after the first quarter.
Keeping Richardson contained on Sunday will go a long way in increasing the Texans' chances of coming home with a win. The Texans defense will have their hands full containing the Colts backs and tight ends in the passing game.
Scoring touchdowns with their wide receivers could prove difficult, as the Texans allowed the second-fewest TDs (10) to the receiver position in 2023.
Limiting running back Jonathan Taylor will also be a top priority. While the Texans had an elite defense against the run last season, they struggled with Taylor in Week 18 as he almost rushed for 200 yards.
Houston's D allowed only four carries to running backs in 2023 that went for 20 or more yards. Two of which were to Taylor in the final game of the regular season.
Finally, DeMeco Ryans and company have to find a way to get pressure on the QB. They only had one QB hit and zero sacks on Richardson and Garner Minshew the first time they faced off last year.
On offense, the Texans have two big x-factors to watch for on Sunday. The offensive line that suited up to play the Colts in Week 2 last season is completely different from this year.
The o-line was ravaged with injuries to start the 2023 campaign, so we expect a big jump in productivity in the trenches this year.
Another big addition in 2024 is the presence of running back Joe Mixon. The running game only produced 2 yards per rush in Week 2 against Indy last year, so there's clearly room for improvement.
Be sure to watch the video above for our in-depth preview of Texans-Colts!
And catch Texans on Tap (a Texans podcast) live on our SportsMapTexans YouTube channel following every game this season!