An old bar of success; a 10-win season still matters and remains a challenge for many SEC football teams
By Ronald Evans
For legitimate contenders, measuring a season's success is making the expanded Playoff field. For some just being one of the 12-teams is not enough success; only a championship will suffice.
For the 124 FBS teams that will not compete in the Playoffs, the old standby success measurement of 10 wins remains important.
The Alabama Crimson Tide and the Oklahoma Sooners lead the college football world with 42, 10-win seasons each. The November game in Norman could allow Alabama Football to break the tie.
On the opposite end of 10-win success are many SEC football programs. Vanderbilt has never had a 10-win season. Every other SEC program has, but consistency in doing so is rare. Using the last couple of decades current SEC football programs are listed below, generally categorized from most 10-win success to the least.
Alabama Football is a clear No. 1
- Alabama Crimson Tide - No other SEC program comes close to matching Nick Saban's 16 consecutive 10-win seasons.
- Georgia Bulldogs - Georgia has 12, 10-win seasons going back to 2007. More recently, only in Kirby Smart's first season and the shortened 2020 season has Georgia not won 10 games.