One of the bigger stories to come out of this college football postseason has been the Southeastern Conference’s performance, and whether the SEC has lost its seat on the throne as the sport’s top conference.
After beginning with five teams in the College Football Playoff, the SEC has one team remaining: No. 6 Mississippi, which faces No. 10 Miami in the CFP Fiesta Bowl semifinal on Thursday, Jan. 8. Texas A&M and Oklahoma were upset in CFP first-round games by Miami and Alabama, who was then thumped 38-3 by Indiana in the Rose Bowl. That just covers the surface of the SEC’s struggles this postseason.
It’s a performance stat line ESPN’s Paul Finebaum couldn’t defend during Tuesday’s edition of ‘First Take.’
‘I’ve been on that hill Stephen A, and I’m getting destroyed. There’s no way to defend the SEC. It’s been terrible,’ Finebaum said.
Excluding CFP games and CFP bowl games, the SEC went 1-5 in bowls this season, with the most notable win being Texas’ win over Michigan in the Citrus Bowl thanks to a career day from Arch Manning. Of those five losses, two of them came against the Big Ten: Illinois over No. 23 Tennessee in the Music City Bowl and Iowa over No. 12 Vanderbilt.
The SEC sustained a loss in the Rose Bowl to the Big Ten with Alabama’s 35-point blowout loss to Indiana. In an SEC-vs.-SEC matchup in the Sugar Bowl, Trinidad Chambliss led Ole Miss to upset No. 3 Georgia with a dominant fourth-quarter performance.
Though he did mention Ole Miss is still in the CFP and has a chance at giving the SEC its first national championship since Georgia went back-to-back in the 2022-23, Finebaum didn’t stop there.
‘I’m sure somebody at the SEC offices is whispering Ole Miss can win it all. That would solve some of the wounds, but this has been a long year for the SEC,’ Finebaum continued. ‘… It’s a rough year for the SEC. Ole Miss is it regardless of the Lane Kiffin story.
‘… If Ole Miss loses Thursday night and I’m sitting here having to defend this league to you Stephen A, saying ‘Oh no big deal that it’s three straight years without an SEC team in the national championship game,’ there is no defense.’
The USA TODAY app gets you to the heart of the news — fast. Download for award-winning coverage, crosswords, audio storytelling, the eNewspaper and more.
