SEC Proves Once Again It Can Beat Up Your Conference: All Things CW

After week start, the league flexed its muscle and secured a strong bowl, postseason showing.

The All Things CW notes column by Christopher Walsh appears in five parts, one each day week, with the latest on the Alabama Crimson Tide. This is ...

Take 2

Bowl play has wrapped up minus the national championship, and the Southeastern Conference left a lasting impression.

Three of the conference's final games included Alabama crushing Big 12 champion Kansas State in the Sugar Bowl, LSU absolutely obliterating Purdue 63-7 in the Citrus Bowl, and Mississippi State winning in maybe the most Mike Leach-way possible, by taking its first lead with four seconds remaining and then scoring again on the kickoff. 

This is on top of top-seeded Georgia winning in the College Football Playoff. The Bulldogs are favored by 13 points over surprising TCU to repeat.

As a result, the league that had the most teams in bowl games with 11, will finish with the most wins. If Georgia wins, the SEC will have the best winning percentage among the Power 5 conferences. 

SEC (11)

Record: 6-5

Las Vegas Bowl: No. 14 Oregon State 30, Florida 3
Gasparilla Bowl: Wake Forest 27, Missouri 17
Liberty Bowl: Arkansas 55, Kansas 53 (3OT)
Texas Bowl: Texas Tech 42, Ole Miss 25
Gator Bowl: No. 21 Notre Dame 45, No. 19 South Carolina 38
Orange Bowl: No. 6 Tennessee 31, No. 7 Clemson 14
Sugar Bowl: No. 5 Alabama 45, No. 9 Kansas State 20
Music City Bowl: Iowa 21, Kentucky 0
CFP Semifinal: No. 1 Georgia 42, No. 4 Ohio State 41
ReliaQuest Bowl: No. 22 Mississippi State 19, Illinois 10
Citrus Bowl: No. 17 LSU 63, Purdue 7

This is despite some of its teams having a lackluster showing. Authorities are still searching for the MIA Kentucky offense that failed to show up in the Music City Bowl, and Ole Miss wasn't the same after losing to the Crimson Tide. The Rebels finished by losing four straight, and five of its last six. 

The less SEC teams were playing for, the worse they did, which contributed to its 1-4 start in bowl games. The lone win required triple overtime by Arkansas, which had finished fifth in the Western Division. 

It's not like conference bragging rights were up for grabs, not really. Not considering how it's dominated the national title picture. 

With Alabama leading the way, the SEC has appeared in six of the seven CFP National Championship Games, winning four. 

But the College Football Playoff opted to reward the Big Ten with two playoff bids this year, and while the semifinals were dramatic as both games went down to the wire, the conference was promptly dispatched. 

The Big Ten has gone 1-6 in the playoff since the 2014 national championship win for Ohio State, before Nick Saban and other coaches figured out that it needed to be approached differently. 

Conference (Bowl teams), Record, Winning pct.

MAC (6) 4-2 .667
Independents (5) 3-2 .600
American (7) 4-3 .571
ACC (9) 5-4 .556
Big Ten (9) 5-4 .556
SEC (11) 6-5 .545
C-USA (6) 3-3 .500
Mountain West (7) 3-4 .429
Pac-12 (7) 3-4 .429
Sun Belt (7) 3-4 .429
Big 12 (8) 2-6 .333

So how good was the SEC this year?

Consider this: If you took the top four SEC teams and lined them up against the top four teams from the rest of college football per the final College Football Playoff rankings, similar to what's done with a conference showdown in basketball, it would look like this: 

• 1 Georgia vs. 2 Michigan 
• 5 Alabama vs. 3 TCU
• 6 Tennessee vs. 4 Ohio State
• 17 LSU vs. 7 Clemson 

If you even have to pause and think about the SEC's chances in that kind of matchup, the point is made. 

Even so, would people bet on the SEC to win the majority of those games? Absolutely. 

See Also:

Take 1: Roster Juggling Has Never Been So Challenging In College Football