Luck?

Do you realize that since 2002, there have been 8 SEC football champions. None have had more than 2 losses upon winning the championships. In fact, there have been 2 Undefeated teams, 4 one loss teams, and 2 two loss teams. 5 of those 8 SEC championship winners have gone on to play for the MNC (4 won, one is pending), including 3 one loss teams, 1 two loss team, and 1 undefeated team. We hold 2 of those 3 spots of teams that won the SEC and didn't play for the national championship, with a one loss team and a two loss team. Auburn holds the other spot with an undefeated team. I'm not sure whose luck is worse, ours or Auburns, but they're both pretty darn bad.

And if you want to talk about parity…Since the day Danny Weurffel graduated from Florida, and make no mistake that THAT event changed SEC football forever (They won the SEC all 4 of his seasons in Gainesville), here's the rundown of teams winning titles:

Teams w/ 3:
Florida ('00, '06, '08)
LSU ('01, '03, '07)

Teams w/ 2:
UT ('97, '98)
UGA ('01, '05)
Bama ('99, 09)

Teams w/ 1:
Auburn ('04)

If the Vandy or Kentucky kicker could make a dadgum kick…oh, how that balance of power might look different.

When you look at it that way....

You know, if I had told you that before the season, the SEC champ was going to play for all the marbles against Texas, but told you that you are NOT going to win the SEC, so pick the bowl opponent you'd most like to face from the following:

Oklahoma St.
Virginia Tech
Uconn
Northwestern
Texas A & M
Penn St.
Clemson
East Carolina
Cincinatti

Chances are you'd have taken Penn St., Clemson, & Texas A&M. So, it's not that bad when you look at the other opponents you could have faced. It was a bad draw all-around for the SEC. While VaTech is a good matchup w/ UT, it's not attactive to us because we just played them 3 years ago. Same is true for Okla. St. and Ole Miss. Every bowl has their choices to make, and I guess they pick their favorites and have their reasons, but someone please explain to me how there will be more fans in Nashville for UK vs. Clemson than UGA vs. Clemson. UGA would have taken more fans than UK, and more Clemson fans would have come after back-to-back disappointing losses at the chance of beating an historic, hated rival. That's the ONE I can't figure out. And how many times in the next 10 years are you going to get a shot at getting UGA vs. getting UK? Just can't figure that one out, coach. These bowl execs are weird folks. Some bowl is finally going to pair UGA vs.Clemson and watch their tickets sell-out in 5 days and stumble onto a gold mine. I can't hardly think of the more perfect bowl matchup as far as creating buzz w/ the universities and fan bases. We hate each other, and we'd love to play against each other in a neutral site. That one's a mystery.

That being said…beat A&M!