Weekend impressions ...

A last look back at the opening weekend of college football ...

There aren't many times when losing is harder to swallow for college football teams. Players went to work in January in weightrooms far from the cheering crowds, went through spring practice, summer workouts and preseason practice, all leading up to the start of another season.

Every team had high hopes. And half of them lost.

It's dangerous to draw conclusions based on openers, because we really don't know who is good and who isn't. What looks like an impressive win might turn out not to be so impressive. What looks like a bad loss might turn out not to be so bad. So I won't offer any conclusions, but I will offer some thought and impressions.

Auburn will be a far different team in a few weeks than it is now. Whether it will be good enough soon enough to deal with a schedule that includes, over the next eight weeks, games at Mississippi State, at home against LSU, at home against Arkansas, at Ole Miss, at Vanderbilt and Texas A&M at home remains to be seen. ...

Auburn tailback Tre Mason looks like a rising star. If he gets enough chances, he'll have more long runs than most. ...

South Carolina has a long way to go to live up to its billing as one of the favorites in the SEC East. ...

Vanderbilt still doesn't have enough SEC-level talent, but I'll hand it to second-year coach James Franklin. He has the Commodores believing they can win, and they play that way. ...

Cordarrelle Patterson, Tennessee's junior college transfer wide receiver, looks like a very special player. ...

I don't know how good North Carolina State is, but Tennessee looked far better than it did at the end of last season. ...

I didn't get to watch any of Alabama's 42-14 victory over Michigan, but the score itself is awfully impressive. ...

Ole Miss and Kentucky appear to be several notches below the rest of the SEC. ...

The handful of teams - Auburn and Alabama included - that played quality opponents in their openers will have an early advantage over those that didn't. Auburn leaned a lot about what it can do well and where it needs to improve in losing to Clemson. Mississippi State learned nothing at all in beating Jackson State 56-9. ...

Florida really could have lost to Bowling Green. If things don't get a lot better in a hurry, Will Muschamp's second season won't be much more fun than his first. ...

You can't help but feel badly for Penn State players and coaches, who had nothing to do with the predicament in which they find themselves. The Nittany Lions couldn't handle Ohio, and it's only going to get worse from here. ...

Arkansas had trouble defending Jacksonville State. That's not a good sign when you play in the SEC West. ...

Until tomorrow ...