The SSG Southeastern Conference
If one word is used to describe the SSG SEC then that word would have to be ‘unpredictable’. It seems in any given year just about any SEC member – with the exception of SSG Kentucky – could be in contention for a division title. In fact, six different schools have made at least one appearance in the Conference Championship game over the past five seasons. While the competition is great for the conference, it certainly hurts the SEC on a national scale as only SSG Texas A&M has been able to qualify for the National Playoff. The reason is most years the teams just beat each other up and knock themselves out of contention. The Aggies made the playoff twice including last season when they advanced to the title game but ultimately fell to SSG Ohio State.
2018 was Texas A&M’s year as the Aggies were a perfect 9-0 in conference play including a 55-38 victory over SSG Florida in the conference championship. The Aggies also beat Florida in the 2016 game but in between had an awful 1-7 conference record in 2017. That sudden change is not unique to the Aggies and speaks to the unpredictability of the SEC. Florida, which has been to 3 conference title games but lost all of them, had a similar tumble in 2017 when the Gators were just 2-6 in conference play after winning 6 games the previous season and 7 the following year. SSG Arkansas and SSG Vanderbilt are two schools that had the reverse happen: a pair of bad seasons sandwiching an outstanding campaign. None were better than the Commodores turn around in 2017. After going 0-8 in SEC play in 2016, Vanderbilt won the division with a 6-2 record the following season and capped it off with an SEC title game victory over Mississippi. SSG LSU is the modern history conference wins leader with 31 over 5 seasons including a victory over Florida in the 2015 title game after losing to Tennessee in the title game the previous year. However, the Tigers appear to be heading in the wrong direction as they have failed to win the West Division each of the past 3 seasons and saw their conference record get progressively worse each of the last 4 years. However, I wouldn’t count LSU out this season as others have proven a quick turnaround is very possible in such a highly contested conference. SSG Georgia is the hard-luck team of the SEC. The Bulldogs have never finished below .500 in conference play and have a pair of 6-2 seasons to go with two 5-3 campaigns but their 26-14 overall record simply makes them the best team in the SSG SEC never to reach the conference championship game. Here are the all-time SSG SEC Conference standings as well as the results of the 5 conference titles games that have been played.
Next up: The SSG American Athletic Conference.