The SEC East won this year’s bowl season.
The SEC West was the clear loser based on some awful attempts at playing something called football.
The SEC West had the chance to get to the National Championship, and it epically failed. Now, SEC fans have to wait till next year . Here are your SEC winners and losers of the bowl season.
LOSERS
- NOTRE DAME 31, LSU 28: A field goal? One freaking field goal? That’s how the LSU Tigers went out...with a big disappointment. They let Notre Dame – a team that lost the last four games of their season – control time of possession for 36 minutes of the game, compared to 22 minutes for LSU. Just embarassing.
- OLE MISS 3, TCU 42: What the hell was that? Did you forget how to play football, Ole Miss? That’s what it looked like to everyone watching. TCU held the Rebels to just nine rushing yards. Wallace is a “wishy-washy” QB who’s prone to throw multiple interceptions. TCU is a great team, but Ole Miss should have put up a better fight than the three points they put on the board.
- MISSISSIPPI STATE 34, GEORGIA TECH 49: QB Dak Prescott’s 453-yard passing game was not enough to stop the Yellow Jackets, who gashed the MSU defense for 452 rushing yards. The Bulldogs missed out on a few big opportunities to put the game in their hands, which included two onside kick attempts that failed.
- AUBURN 31, WISCONSIN 34: It’s hard to stop Melvin Gordon when you have a very average defense (65th to be exact) at best. Gordon stomped all over Auburn’s defense with a whopping 251-yard rushing game and three touchdowns. I’m surprised Auburn’s offense fought back enough to bring about seven leade changes throughout the game.
- ALABAMA 35, OHIO STATE 42: Where was the Alabama defense that everyone talks about? It didn’t show up for the College Football Playoff because Ohio State racked up 537 yards of total offense. I’m behind Alabama starting Blake Sims, a QB who was a backup much of his college career until his senior year, but I think Alabama was limited this season due to Sims. He did the job, but he wasn’t amazing and his flaws were evident.
WINNERS
- SOUTH CAROLINA 24, MIAMI 21: South Carolina wins because the Gamecocks ended their crap season on a positive note. Remember during the beginning of the year when people picked them to win the East? Spurrier did a great job throwing out the game plan and opening up the passing lanes for QB Dylan Thompson to let the pigskin fly, which worked enough for a win.
- ARKANSAS 31, TEXAS 7: I’m telling you this is a fun team to watch, and will continue to be a fun team to watch next season. I'm pretty sure head coach Coach Bielema is just warming up. Arkansas had a day on defense, holding Texas to just 59 total yards.
- GEORGIA 37, LOUISVILLE 14: Nick Chubb, Nick Chubb, 266 rushing yards for Nick Chubb. Georgia needs a Nick Chubb day. This kid is the real damn deal and he was only a freshman this season. Also, hats off to Georgia’s defense for grabbing three interceptions to help the offense. Georgia’s will have Chubb back plus more than just a few offensive linemen next season. A threatening team to be sure.
- MISSOURI 33, MINNESOTA 17: I could have totally seen Missouri pull a Missouri and lose the game against Minnesota. But, they pulled through and played an impressive game especially during the second half. They’ll have a promising run game next year.
- IOWA 28, TENNESSEE 45: First bowl win since 2008 - good for you Vols, good for you. This team is headed in the right direction for many seasons to come. The Vols are stacked with quality players for next year, including QB Joshua Dobbs and RB Jalen Hurd.
- EAST CAROLINA 20, FLORIDA 28: The Gators ended a chapter of its football program’s life on the right foot by winning the Birmingham Bowl. The defense sealed the deal when DB Vernon Hargreaves III picked off East Carolina QB Shane Carden with 1:20 left in the game.
- TEXAS A&M 45, WEST VIRGINIA 37: Aggie freshmen win the season by flexing their freshman muscles against West Virginia. True freshman QB Kyle Allen was 22 for 35 with 294 yards and four touchdowns in the air. Allen even ran a ball to the house for a rushing touchdown of his very own. One big play that stuck out in my mind was in the first quarter - fourth-and-5 from the West Virginia 40 and Sumlin ordered up a play to go for it. The Aggies got what they wanted - a nice TD to put the game within three points. Watch out for a solid team next year with a lot more experience.
You see the trend here? The strong teams that for the most part should have won ended up losing. The supposed weaker teams? They won. Maybe the SEC East proved its strength just a bit with its bowl performances. One thing’s for sure - I see a lot of SEC teams that are headed in the right direction. It should make for another season of fun football come the end of August.
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