SEC West has rough go in bowl season
Western Division goes 2-5 in postseason, East a perfect 5-0
The 2014 college football season is now in the rearview mirror and now the question is, what did fans learn?
Well, we learned that the new four-team playoff system still has teams griping about being snubbed. Baylor and Texas Christian University split the Big 12 Championship, and both were left out after Ohio State put a thumping on Wisconsin in the Big 10 Championship.
We learned that the new system is flawed based on simple arithmetic. The new system has four playoff spots, but there are five so-called power conferences; including the Pac-12, Big 12, Big 10, Southeastern Conference and the Atlantic Coast Conference.
SEC champ Alabama was the top seed. Oregon grabbed the second playoff spot after avenging its lone loss to Arizona in the Pac-12 title tilt. Florida State, the defending National Champion and country’s lone unbeaten team, was ranked third while the Buckeyes leap-frogged both Baylor and TCU to round out the post-season field.
The Big 12 cost itself a playoff bid by declaring the Horned Frogs and Bears co-champions and Baylor’s Art Briles and TCU’s Gary Patterson were left to complain because their respective teams were left on the outside looking in.
So, the first lesson we learned is that the four-team playoff, like the Bowl Championship Series, is flawed. The playoff system needs to expand to at least six, if not eight, teams.
The next, and perhaps most important, lesson that college football fans learned is that the SEC, in particular the Western Division, isn’t as dominant as we once thought.
Is the SEC still the country’s best conference? Probably.
Sure, the Seminoles beat Auburn to end the fiasco known as the BCS, and the SEC wasn’t represented in the National Championship Game this season.
Throughout the regular season, however, Alabama, who was manhandled in the second half by the fourth-seeded Buckeyes, Ole Miss and Mississippi State were all in the playoff race at some point during the 2014 campaign.
The Rebels beat the Crimson Tide early, but Ole Miss lost to LSU, Auburn and Arkansas before rebounding to win the Egg Bowl against its hated in-state rival.
Mississippi State, which was the country’s top-ranked team for a while in 2014, had late losses to the Tide and Rebels and those eliminated the Bulldogs from playoff contention.
At one point of the season all of the SEC West’s teams, save the Razorbacks, were at one time ranked in the Top 25.
But the bowl season was a different story. Here’s how that all shook out.
Arkansas finished 7-6 and won its bowl game. The Razorbacks defeated one-time Southwestern Conference rival Texas 31-7 in the Advocare V100 Texas Bowl to notch a winning season since Bobby Petrino left in disgrace in 2012 after resurrecting the program.
Texas A&M, who started fast before a midseason swoon doomed the Aggies, rebounded nicely to win the Liberty Bowl. A&M went 8-5 and knocked off West Virginia 45-37 in the Liberty Bowl.
Those games represented the SEC West’s only victories during the Holiday Season.
LSU had a disappointing season by its standards. The Tigers (8-5) ended their season on a sour note as they lost a 31-28 decision to Notre Dame in the Music City Bowl.
Auburn also went 8-5 this season after reaching the National Championship Game last season. The Tigers’ defense was so porous that Gus Malzahn fired defensive coordinator Ellis Johnson at the end of the regular season.
Former Florida head coach Will Muschamp was hired after being dismissed by the Gators. He was with the Tigers, although he didn’t run the defense, for the Outback Bowl in Tampa Bay. Now he has to be wondering what he’s gotten himself into after Wisconsin shredded the Auburn defense in a 34-31 overtime victory.
As if those falls from grace weren’t enough, it only got worse. Ole Miss was routed 42-3 by TCU 42-3 in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl. The Rebels (9-4) were ravaged by injuries, but they simply weren’t ready to play and the Horned Frogs played with a chip on their shoulder as expected.
Mississippi State (10-3) also ended its best season in recent memory on a sour note. The Bulldogs dropped a 49-34 decision to ACC runner-up Georgia Tech in the Orange Bowl.
As for the Crimson Tide, Alabama opened a 21-6 lead against Ohio State only to see the Buckeyes storm back to nab a 42-35 in the Sugar Bowl and National Championship Semi-finals. OSU’s win over the Tide (12-2) netted itself a place in the National Championship Game. The Buckeyes completed their Cinderella story when they routed the heavily favored Ducks 42-20.
In the SEC East, Tennessee smashed Iowa 45-28 in the TaxSlayer Bowl and secured its first winning season since 2009. The Volunteers scored 21 first-quarter points and the Hawkeyes were finished. Tennessee finished 7-6 and proved that it should be a factor in next year’s Eastern Division race as quarterback Josh Dobbs will return along with most of the team’s starters.
Florida will have a new coach in 2015, and the Gators downed East Carolina 28-20 in the Birmingham Bowl. South Carolina, Georgia and two-time defending East Champ Missouri all won their respective bowl games. All will look to compete with the Vols next season.
Kentucky (5-7) didn’t qualify for a bowl but Mark Stoops will likely have the Wildcats playing during the holiday season next year. Of the SEC’s teams, only Vanderbilt failed to really compete in 2014.
The Commodores (3-9) will likely be the league’s doormat next season if Derek Mason doesn’t get things together.
Mason will be Vandy’s defensive coordinator next season. He added former Wisconsin assistant coach Andy Ludwig as the team’s offensive coordinator.
