By Marc Lawrence — Week One of the long-awaited 2020 SEC is in the records books. With it four new head coaches made their SEC debut. When Mississippi State hired Mike Leach and Ole Miss lured Lane Kiffin, we knew it’d at least be fun to gawk at the state’s new SEC coaches. Leach and Kiffin immediately became two of the SEC’s most outspoken and interesting head coaches the minute they arrived. Mississippi State ran the ball for a mere nine yards against the LSU Tigers, but that’s all it needed after Costello completed 36 of 60 passes for 623 yards and five touchdowns in its massive upset win over the defending National Champions. Kiffin didn’t have nearly as much success in a loss to Florida, but the Rebels at least looked competent on offense. Meanwhile new Arkansas head coach Sam Pittman led Georgia at the half before self-destructing, while Eliah Drinkwitz’s Tigers from Missouri were expected to lose handily to Alabama, and that’s what happened. Drinkwitz, though, lands in the cellar after showing no shame using three timeouts in the final minute of the game to score a garbage touchdown to make the final result look a little more respectable.
Trending Today
For the first time in six years the Cleveland Browns own a winning record, thanks largely to a pair of early wins over lightweight Cincinnati and Washington (1-5 combined). ESPN reports Cleveland had gone 90 consecutive weeks without a winning record, which was by far the longest active streak in the NFL. The Browns were last above .500 going into Week 15 of the 2014 season, when they were 7-6, then lost their final three games. Over the next three seasons, Cleveland would win just four games combined. The NY Giants now hold the longest streak without a winning record at 55 weeks.
Grinding Out The Profits
From this week’s PLAYBOOK TOTALS TIPSHEET FOOTBALL NEWSLETTER: The Kansas City Chiefs have played OVER the total in 10 of their last 11 games when facing undefeated opponents from Game 3 out. The Baltimore Ravens have sailed OVER the number in 8 of their last 10 games against the AFC West. Connect the shiny dots.
