Friday, January 9, 2009

Final SEC football rankings for 2008

Well, the season's over and here's where I rank all the SEC teams:

1. Florida, 13-1 (8-1): Finished strong and won the national championship.
2. Alabama, 12-2 (8-1): Lost only to the top two teams in the nation.
3. Ole Miss, 9-4 (5-3): The only team to beat Florida; looked unbeatable at the end of the season and whipped Texas Tech in the Cotton Bowl.
4. Georgia, 10-3 (6-2): Didn't show up against Alabama or Florida and got taken to school by the Yellow Jackets, then drew a middling Michigan State team in its bowl.
5. LSU, 8-5 (3-5): Stumbled badly at the end of the season but whipped Georgia Tech in the Yellow Jackets' backyard.
6. Vanderbilt, 7-6 (4-4): That victory in Oxford just keeps looking better and better, doesn't it? Miracle win over a tough Boston College team was a beautiful ending to a beautiful season.
7. South Carolina, 7-6 (4-4): A scrappy team that fell apart at the end of the season and decided not to show up against Iowa in the Outback Bowl.
8. Kentucky, 7-6 (2-6): A weak non-conference schedule and a stout defense boosted Cats into a bowl, where they played hard and beat East Carolina.
9. Tennessee, 5-7 (3-5): Finished strong with wins over eventual bowl champions Vanderbilt and Kentucky, and now the Volunteer faithful eagerly await the arrival of their fresh-faced coach and his Dream Team of assistants.
10. Arkansas, 5-7 (2-6): The only team that didn't go to a bowl that didn't fire its coach. Petrino did a nice job given the circumstances and returns a ton of starters next season.
11. Auburn, 5-7 (2-6): After the Vanderbilt loss, the Tigers could only muster a victory over Tennessee-Martin. Now they're starting over.
12. Miss State, 4-8 (2-6): A sad season that ended with a thrashing at the hands of the Rebels and the firing of Coach Croom.

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