Who has the toughest division in college football? Whether you were listening to Finebaum, PTI, or having a spirited conversation at your morning tailgate, it was always a fun and passionate debate. SEC East was never really part of that conversation. Sure, Georiga and Florida have had runs of being the elite of college football. However, as a whole, the SEC East has been mainly considered the “little brother” to the SEC West. We’ll discuss “big brother” in another article.
Division supremacy will no longer be a thing (thankfully for some) in 2024. Like their Big Ten and ACC brethren, the SEC is going away from divisions. Instead, their two top-ranked, more on that in a moment, will meet in conference championship games with a shot at securing a top spot in the College Football Playoff. On Wednesday, the SEC office unveiled the tie-breaking process for the 2024 season. A whole new debate has entered the chat.
@SEC announces official football tie-breaking process:https://t.co/HTsmbBcV7T | #SECFB pic.twitter.com/B6byYbqUkL
— Southeastern Conference (@SEC) August 21, 2024
Random Draw: Sickos Committee Dreams
16 teams. Eight-game conference schedules. Unbalanced non-conference schedules. One can see and hear the Sickos Committee looking out the window when the SEC has Georgia, Missouri, Ole Miss, and Texas all with 7-1 conference records after the last game is played in November. Who goes to Atlanta? Surely, they can’t leave out Georiga. Can they? Missouri, say it ain’t so Longhorns! Eli Drinkwitz has done a great job turning around the Tigers, but surely they can’t pass Texas. While this writer won’t go into the rabbit hole to figure out how we could get to a spot where we have a random draw, the possibility is spicy.
Realistically, the chances of the SEC getting to a random draw are probably about as good as having four teams tied atop the conference standings. The possibility highlights the challenges of having a 16-team league that only plays eight conference games. The tie-breaking process highlights the need for more relevant data points. The SEC needs more conference games and fewer FCS and Group of Five games. Here are the four non-conference games of the four teams mentioned above.
- Georgia: Clemson, Tennessee Tech, UMass, and Georgia Tech
- Missouri: Murray State, Buffalo, Boston College, and UMass
- Ole Miss: Furman, Middle Tennessee State, Wake Forest, and Georgia Southern
- Texas: Colorado State, Michigan, UTSA, and the University of Louisiana-Monroe
These schedules are unbalanced. The path to the data points is more conference games. While Nick Sban’s 10-game conference schedule may not happen, a nine-game schedule would provide the additional data points (not to mention better games and more television eyeballs) to clarify who sits atop the SEC. Now that we know where we are going in 2024, let’s take the time to look back and find out who was best of the SEC (L)East.
Who was the best team in the SEC East?
For 32 seasons, the SEC Championship has been a marquee event, taking center stage on the first Saturday in December. As the first NCAA conference to hold a football championship game, the SEC set a standard for college football. Ten of the sixteen current SEC members have competed in the championship, with Kentucky, Ole Miss, Texas A&M, and Vanderbilt being the exceptions. The West Division has held the upper hand, leading the series 19-13. However, only six teams—Florida, Georgia, and Tennessee from the East, and Alabama, Auburn, and LSU from the West—have claimed the title, each winning it multiple times.
We used three criteria to determine the top team in the SEC East.
- SEC East Division Championships
- SEC Titles
Kentucky and Vanderbilt were the only two teams not to make the list.
Florida Gators
- SEC East Division Championships: 92, 93, 94, 95, 99, 00, 06, 08, 09, 15, 16, 20
- SEC Titles: 93, 94, 95, 00, 06, 08
Why is Billy Napier on the hot seat? Look at the success of the OBC Steve Spurrier in the 1990s and Urban Meyer in the late 2000s. This is the legacy that the Gators will be chasing in 2024 and beyond. They have a long way to catch up to the next team.
Georiga Bulldogs
- SEC East Division Championships: 02. 03. 05, 11, 12, 17, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23
- SEC Titles: 02, 05, 17. 22
Kirby Smart made the trip to Atlanta in early December, an annual trip for Bulldog Nation. Only two SEC Championships are seen as disappointing and a miss to some. With Saban gone from Alabama, Smart has a chance to build out his trophy case.
Tennessee Volunteers
- SEC East Division Championships: 97. 01. 04, 07
- SEC Titles: 97
Rocky Top is the only other SEC East team to win a conference championship. Josh Heupel has brought stability to the Vols. Quarterback Nico Iamaleava’s big right arm is the key to the Vols’ “running through the T” in Atlanta.
Missouri Tigers
- SEC East Division Championships: 13, 14
Some may call it beginner’s luck, but a closer look shows what a dynamic coach Gary Pinkel was for the Tigers. Drinkwitz has the Tigers trending to compete for a spot in Atlanta again. The question is, can the Tigers hold onto their head coach? Drink might be Scott Stricklin’s first call if he makes a coaching change.
South Carolina
- SEC East Division Championships: 2010
Can we just call the OBC “the goat” of the SEC East? Not only did he do well at Flordia, but he even brought the Gamecocks to Atlanta, even if the outcome was forgettable. Chances are we won’t see many lopsided results like that again.
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