Why is the SEC East so Bad?

The Florida Gators escaped Lexington with a win on Saturday night to remain undefeated, but not without having a lot of questions about their offense. Starting quarterback Felipe Franks left the game with a gruesome leg injury, which threw backup Kyle Trask into the game down 21-10. This injury to Felipe Franks may have been a blessing in disguise as Trask came in and helped the Gators score 19 unanswered points. The Gators did have a little help from Chance Poor, which may be the worse name for a kicker ever, but a win is a win. 

Florida is the only team in the east that has a realistic shot at beating Georgia, but barely squeaking by Kentucky does not give you much confidence, especially when you consider the fact that Kentucky was also missing their starting quarterback Terry Wilson.

The Kentucky Wildcats were so close to beating the Gators in back-to-back years. So close to taking the next step as a football program, but turns out their chances were poor. It would easy to point fingers at the missed field goal and say that's why they lost. Well, it is why they lost, but Kentucky had ample opportunities to put the game away in the second half. Instead the offense sputtered in the fourth quarter. 

Without starting quarterback Terry Wilson, backup Sawyer Smith had to start for the Wildcats, and he looked great. For three quarters anyway. The Wildcats may have their quarterback of the future, but as they look to start competing in the SEC east they need more production out of Smith when it matters most. It is tough to imagine a scenario where Kentucky is able to win more than seven games. It feels like the team put everything they had into beating Florida, but still came up short. 

South Carolina has got themselves in quite the pickle. They have the toughest schedule in college football, having to play the top three teams in the country. The gamecocks just took a beat down from one of those top teams on Saturday, as number two Alabama beat them 47-23. In the first half, things did not look that bad for the Gamecocks. The defense was playing well and getting stops, but the offense just couldn't get points on the board. 

The Gamecocks find themselves in a similar situation as Kentucky and Florida, as their starting quarterback got hurt in week 1 against UNC. Freshman Ryan Hilinski had to start against the Crimson Tide, and I am glad I am not him. Hilinski took a beating on Saturday. The offensive line was getting man-handled and nobody on the Gamecocks offense seemed to be able to make a play when it mattered. Long gone are the days of Alshon Jeffrey and Marcus Lattimore. The Gamecocks need to find some play-makers on offense or they may find themselves below .500 at the end of the year.

Their are other teams in the SEC east that have their fans scratching their head right now. Tennessee dropped their first two games to teams they should've beaten, Missouri lost to Wyoming, and Vanderbilt is doing Vanderbilt things. I want to reserve judgement on these teams until they start conference play. I know Vanderbilt already started conference play, but you can't expect them to compete against Georgia. The SEC east needs to start trying to match the offensive firepower of Georgia if they want to stop Georgia from going to Atlanta the next five years.