Last we saw the SEC on the gridiron, it was underachieving dramatically.
Well, sort of. SEC teams went 8-7 in bowl/playoff season, falling short against the spread by only 1.6 points per game (which is to say that the spreads were pretty accurate on average). But they underachieved by more than that against Big Ten teams, and for the second straight season -- gasp! -- an SEC team failed to win the national title. The league still comfortably had the best average SP+ rating in the nation thanks primarily to the small number of genuinely bad teams, but it certainly didn't finish the 2024 season in a great mood.