SEC Football by the Numbers: Top 10 from Week 1

SEC Football by the Numbers: Top 10 from Week 1

During the first full week of the SEC’s 2023 season, league teams posted an 11-3 record in non-conference games. Missouri defeated South Dakota 35-10 on Thursday and Alabama defeated Middle Tennessee 56-7, Arkansas defeated Western Carolina 56-13, Auburn defeated Massachusetts 59-14, Georgia defeated UT Martin 48-7, Kentucky defeated Ball State 44-14, Mississippi State defeated Southeastern Louisiana 48-7, Ole Miss defeated Mercer 73-7, Tennessee defeated Virginia 49-13, Texas A&M defeated New Mexico 52-10 and Vanderbilt defeated Alabama A&M 47-13 on Saturday, and Florida lost to Utah 24-11 on Thursday, South Carolina lost to North Carolina 31-17 on Saturday and LSU lost to Florida State 45-24 on Sunday. Here are 10 numbers about the SEC’s Week 1 games:

3 TD runs for Auburn QB Robby Ashford in the second quarter of the Tigers’ 59-14 victory over Massachusetts on Saturday. Ashford scored on runs of 10 yards, 1 yard and 4 yards as Auburn expanded a 10-7 lead to a 31-7 advantage in a span of 10:13. Ashford became the first Auburn quarterback to run for three touchdowns in a game since Cam Newton in a 65-43 victory over Arkansas on Oct. 16, 2010. Newton ran for 188 yards on 25 carries in that game. Ashford had 51 yards on nine rushing attempts on Saturday.

4 TD receptions for Ole Miss WR Tre Harris in the Rebels’ 73-7 victory over Mercer on Saturday, the most in one game in school history. Harris had TD catches of 38, 28, 20 and 16 yards from QB Jaxson Dart among his six receptions. Ole Miss set a school record with 524 passing yards on Saturday, with 133 going to Harris. The Rebels surpassed the 517 passing yards posted in a 70-21 victory over Louisiana-Monroe on Oct. 6, 2018.

5 TD passes for Texas A&M QB Conner Weigman in the Aggies’ 52-10 victory over New Mexico on Saturday. Weigman became the first Texas A&M player with five TD passes in a regulation game since Johnny Manziel in a 51-41 victory over Mississippi State on Nov. 9, 2013. Last season, Weigman had eight TD passes in five games for the Aggies. On Saturday, he completed 18-of-23 passes for 236 yards with five TDs and no interceptions.

9 Sacks of South Carolina QB Spencer Rattler by North Carolina in the Gamecocks’ 31-17 season-opening loss on Saturday. The Tar Heels defense registered 17 sacks during the entire 2022 season. South Carolina lost 65 yards on the nine sacks, pulling the Gamecocks’ rushing yards for the game down to minus-2.

15 Scoring streaks of at least 100 games in SEC history after Ole Miss’ 73-7 victory over Mercer on Saturday pushed the Rebels’ current scoring streak to 100 games. Ole Miss was most recently shut out in a 30-0 loss to Arkansas on Nov. 22, 2014. The Rebels’ streak is one of the six still active, led by the three longest scoring streaks in SEC history with Florida at 437 games, Georgia at 360 games and Alabama at 297 games. The Gators’ streak is the longest in major-college football history. Auburn at 130 games and Texas A&M at 105 also have triple-digit scoring streaks going. The other current scoring streaks for SEC members are 69 games by Tennessee, 57 by LSU, 40 by Missouri, 33 by Mississippi State, 22 by Arkansas, 15 by South Carolina, two by Vanderbilt and one by Kentucky.

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18 Consecutive victories for Georgia. The Bulldogs established the school’s longest winning streak by beating UT Martin 48-7 on Saturday. Georgia’s most recent loss was a 41-24 setback against Alabama in the SEC Championship Game on Dec. 4, 2021. The previous school-record 17-game winning streak started with a 34-7 victory over Chattanooga on Nov. 4, 1945, a week after the Bulldogs lost to Alabama 28-14. Georgia’s winning streak extended through a 13-7 victory over Furman to start the 1974 season before the Bulldogs fell to North Carolina 14-7 on Sept. 27, 1947. Georgia’s current winning streak is tied for the 12th-longest in SEC history. Alabama had six of the 11 SEC winning streaks longer than Georgia’s, including two 28-game winning streaks that are tied for the longest in conference history.

21 Alabama games have featured at least five TDs accounted for by one player, including Saturday’s 56-7 victory over Middle Tennessee. Crimson Tide quarterback Jalen Milroe completed 13-of-18 passes for 194 yards with three TDs and no interceptions and ran for 64 yards and two TDs on seven carries. Milroe became the first Alabama player with three TD passes and two TD runs in the same game.

50 Years since Alabama scored more points in a season-opening game than the Crimson Tide did in its 56-7 victory over Middle Tennessee on Saturday night. By scoring one more point than it did in last year’s 55-0 victory over Utah State, Alabama had its most points in a season-opener on Saturday since a 66-0 victory over California to kick off the 1973 campaign. On the other side of the score, LSU yielded more points in its 45-24 loss to Florida State on Sunday night than it had in any season-opening game. Opponents had reached 40 points against the Tigers twice in season-openers – a 40-35 loss to Florida State in 1983 and a 44-34 loss to Mississippi State in 2020. In LSU’s season-opening games from 1900 through 1935, the Tigers’ opponents scored 42 points combined.

127 Yards and two TDs on 19 rushing attempts for Mississippi State RB Jo’Quavious Marks in the Bulldogs’ 48-7 victory over Southeastern Louisiana on Saturday. Marks became the first MSU ball-carrier to reach 100 rushing yards in a game since Kylin Hill ran for 132 yards on 27 carries in a 21-10 victory over Ole Miss on Nov. 28, 2019.

88,043 Was the announced attendance for Auburn’s 59-14 victory over Massachusetts on Saturday to set a Jordan-Hare Stadium record. Jordan-Hare had 63 crowds at its former capacity of 87,451, but changes to the stadium since last season added room for 592 more spectators. Tennessee also played in front of a record crowd on Saturday during the Volunteers’ 49-13 victory over Virginia. The 69,507 in attendance made up the largest crowd to see a sports event in Nashville’s Nissan Stadium. That broke the record of 69,489 for Tennessee’s 48-45 loss to Purdue in the Music City Bowl on Dec. 30, 2021. The current capacity for the stadium is listed at 69,143. Nissan Stadium is the home for the NFL’s Tennessee Titans. The record attendance for a Titans’ game in Nashville is 69,484 for a 27-3 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs on Oct. 24, 2021.

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.