Photo courtesy of Kentucky athletics
“It Just Means More.”
Go through a state within the footprint of the Southeastern Conference and the locals will know what you mean when you utter that phrase. If you root for an SEC team, you love the phrase. If you are an outsider, you probably hate it.
Usually, our “Fun Fact Friday” pieces cover all of college football, but we were requested to do one just for the SEC fans. After all, “It Just Means More.”
- LSU football has not experienced a losing season this century. It may have fired two national championship-winning coaches, but LSU fans, who cannot legally drink alcohol, have never seen their Tigers finish below .500. This 22-year streak (2000-present) is the longest in the conference, but the Tigers must beat Kansas State to keep it alive. If it does, it will keep the longest streak until Oklahoma joins the SEC. The Sooners have LSU beat by one season (23 seasons, 1999-present).
- Since 1997, Georgia has made a bowl every season. Georgia’s current streak of 25 straight bowl appearances leads the nation.
- Only two conferences have put multiple teams in the College Football Playoff, but only one conference has done it twice. In 2017 and 2021, the SEC put two teams in the playoff. In both years, those teams were Alabama and Georgia.
- 13 of the 14 SEC teams are going bowling, which sets an NCAA record for the most teams from one conference to make the postseason.
- South Carolina football has more ACC championships than Miami, Boston College, Louisville, and Syracuse combined. Georgia Tech has more SEC championships than South Carolina, Kentucky, Mississippi State, Texas A&M, Missouri, Arkansas, and Vanderbilt combined.
- If Kentucky can beat Iowa in the Citrus Bowl, head coach Mark Stoops will have the most bowl wins in program history. Currently, he is tied with Rich Brooks and Paul “Bear” Bryant.
- Speaking of Bryant, he has technically been the head coach for four different current SEC schools. Those schools are Alabama, Texas A&M, Kentucky, and Vanderbilt.
- There are only two SEC teams that have not experienced a 10-win season since 2010 — Tennessee and Vanderbilt. Coincidentally, the two have split their last 10 games.
- Florida has been playing football since 1906. Somehow, the Gators have never had a perfect season (no losses, no ties). That may be surprising for a school with three national championships.
- In its last four SEC games, Alabama has only scored three total points in the first quarter. It has won all four games.