The bowl season for SEC Football began bleakly with Oregon State completely outclassing the Florida Gators in the SRS Distribution Las Vegas Bowl. The Florida team that upset Utah in the season-opener limped to a finish, losing five of its last seven games, including a defeat from Vanderbilt.
The SEC’s fortunes did not improve a week later when Wake Forest beat Missouri, 27-17 in the Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl.
The SEC’s bowl reputation came close to being seriously dire in the next two games. Texas Tech took advantage of five Ole Miss turnovers to beat the Rebels, 42-25, in the TaxAct Texas Bowl. Arkansas kept the SEC from opening the bowl season 0-4, with a dramatic, 55-53 overtime win over Kansas in the AutoZone Liberty Bowl.
Even with the Hogs pulling out the win, many in the national media were frothing while pontificating about the days of SEC football dominance being not just over, but dead and gone forever.
After which, SEC football teams won five of the league’s next seven bowl games. Only one of the two other SEC losses was embarrassing, when Kentucky was shut out by a mediocre Iowa Hawkeyes team, 21-0 in the TransPerfect Music City Bowl. Opt-outs were a big factor in the Music City Bowl, with Mark Stoops’ Wildcats playing without the team’s top two offensive players, QB, Will Levis, and RB, Chris Rodriquez Jr. Kentucky had multiple players out because of injuries, and seven players, who competed in the Cats game versus Louisville, were transfer portal exits. The game had just seven points from offensive production.
The other loss in the closing seven bowl games was a respectable one when the Notre Dame Fighting Irish beat the South Carolina Gamecocks, 45-38, in the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl.
Five SEC Football Bowl Wins
The Georgia Bulldogs held on to beat the Ohio State Buckeyes, 42-31 in a Peach Bowl, CFB Playoff semi-final. Alabama football fans may argue the Georgia win was not the most impressive SEC bowl win. The Alabama Crimson Tide dominated the Big 12 Champion, Kansas State Wildcats, 45-20 in the Allstate Sugar Bowl.
Another impressive SEC bowl win was LSU 63 – Purdue 7 in the Citrus Bowl. Having played in the Big Ten Championship Game, the Boilermakers were presumed to be one of the B1G’s top teams.
Two more SEC wins came with Tennessee beating Clemson, 31-14 in the Capital One Orange Bowl and Mississippi State topping Illinois, 19-10, in the ReliaQuest Bowl.
As provided by the NCAA, the bowl record for the SEC of 54.5% was outmatched by the ACC, at 55.6%. The winning conference in the Rose Bowl game will also edge past the SEC’s winning percentage.