A pirate flag is flying in the Southeastern Conference. A white flag is waving in the Big 12. This is where we stand in late September, as a strange season picks up eccentric steam.
Mike Leach’s debut at Mississippi State was a success beyond all expectations, with the iconoclast pirate enthusiast and his Stanford transfer quarterback K.J. Costello strafing reigning national champion LSU in Death Valley. They were the scene stealers of the SEC’s opening Saturday, which also saw the following developments: Alabama looking like Alabama; Florida’s Kyle Show (Trask to Pitts) blitzing Lane Kiffin and Mississippi; Georgia laboring past Arkansas with what was supposed to be its fourth-string quarterback; Auburn riding a plus-three turnover margin to beat Kentucky; Texas A&M still looking like an underachiever after wheezing past Vanderbilt; and Will Muschamp kicking a field goal late when he needed a touchdown against Tennessee.