SEC Takes Step Back in 08... Loses 9 of 15 Against Teams from BCS Conferences

The Southeastern Conference, the league that in week three had five of its teams ranked in the top ten, has lost nine of its fifteen games against teams from other BCS conferences.  In 2007 they won eleven and lost nine.

For a conference that prides itself on being the toughest in the nation, it appears that it hasn't been a good year for the SEC.  Things could change slightly after the bowls are played.

It's not just the loses to BCS teams.  Mississippi State was beaten by Louisiana Tech and Tennessee was shocked by Wyoming.   Both games were at home.

In head to head competition with the ACC, a conference that gets slapped around by the media all the time for being weak, the ACC holds a 6-4 advantage.

Georgia and South Carolina both lost state rivalry games to Georgia Tech and Clemson.  Mississippi and Vanderbilt both lost to Wake Forest.  Mississippi State lost to Georgia Tech and Vanderbilt also lost a game to Duke.

Florida beat both Miami and Florida State.  Alabama beat Clemson and South Carolina did beat North Carolina State.

In non-conference games against other conferences the results weren't much better.

In games that were expected to be key matchups, West Virginia blew out Auburn, Texas blew out Arkansas and Tennessee lost to UCLA.  Georgia did beat Arizona State and Kentucky did beat its state rivalry, Louisville.

The SEC won a total of 37 non-conference games in 2008 while losing just eleven, but  nine of the wins were against Div 1-AA teams and 22 of those wins were against teams from Div 1A non-BCS conferences.  Without Florida and Alabama, the league just didn't perform very well.

This was the year when LSU, Tennessee, and Auburn, teams that have usually been national powers, had horrible seasons.  Tennessee and Auburn both had losing records and LSU, who non the national championship in 2007, did not have one good win.

Georgia, who was rated first in preseason polls, finished the regular season with three loses. 

It came down to Florida and Alabama this year in the SEC.  This conference really was a two-team league this season, and honestly, we still don't know about Alabama because they've had a real easy road to the SEC Championship Game.  Georgia and Mississippi are their two best wins.