Here is a look at the biggest story line for each SEC team entering Week 14:

ALABAMA CRIMSON TIDE

Story line: National championship or bust … again.

Much like last season, Alabama will enter the SEC Championship Game as a heavy favorite that will advance to the College Football Playoff with a victory. Anything short of pushing its way to the national title game would be a bust for this team, which has been playing as well as any in the country during the past two months.

ARKANSAS RAZORBACKS

Story line: Brandon Allen belongs among all-time Arkansas quarterbacks

Arkansas fans have had a love-hate relationship with the Razorbacks quarterback during the past four years. They enjoyed more good times than bad during the second half of his senior season, which is sending them to a second consecutive bowl game. He’s posted some gaudy numbers during this recent hot streak.

AUBURN TIGERS

Story line: Gus Malzahn went from national coach of the year in 2013 to “meh” in the matter of two seasons

The life cycle of a college football coach is crazy. Less than two years ago, Malzahn was leading the Tigers to a national championship game and was considered one of the hot coaching prospects in the nation. While he’s still a good coach and there are plenty of teams that would love to have him, two underwhelming seasons in a row have left supporters wondering just how good he really is these days.

FLORIDA GATORS

Story line: How can the Gators beat Alabama?

There is no sugar-coating last week’s offensive performance against Florida State. It stunk. But with the SEC Championship Game ahead this week, the Gators must have a short memory and get back up off the mat to try again. Alabama’s defense won’t make things any easier.

GEORGIA BULLDOGS

Story line: Coaching search frenzy hits Georgia.

Georgia fans have been sheltered from the coaching search frenzy for 15 years, so we’ll all have to forgive them if they’re freaking out this week about the possibilities of a replacement for Mark Richt.

KENTUCKY WILDCATS

Story line: Going bowling at 5-7?

The Wildcats blew a 21-point lead at home against Louisville last week, which was a disappointing finish to a disappointing five-win season after starting the year 4-1. But Kentucky could receive a gift bowl appearance due to a shortage of six-win teams.

LSU TIGERS

Story line: Les Miles is the man after all.

After a week of rumors and uncomfortable media appearances, Les Miles came out of Saturday’s win against Texas A&M as the Tigers coach. Retaining the Mad Hatter seems to be a popular decision, but now Miles must repair the damage those rumors did to his top-rated recruiting class.

MISSISSIPPI STATE BULLDOGS

Story line: It is time to start thinking about life without Dak Prescott.

For the last two seasons, it has been hard to read or write anything about Mississippi State football without mentioning the talented quarterback. But following a season-ending loss to Ole Miss, the Bulldogs would be best suited to start evaluating what things are going to look like without him in advance of their bowl game.

MISSOURI TIGERS

Story line: A new era of Missouri football is about to begin.

With Gary Pinkel’s squad finishing the season at 5-7 and not expected to take an invite to a bowl game if offered, it looks like it truly is time to turn the page on the Pinkel Era. All of the focus surrounding this program will be on the decision to name a successor.

OLE MISS REBELS

Story line: Oh, what could have been…

Now that the dust has settled on the SEC West race, it is hard for the Rebels to not look back and wonder what might have been if they had found a way to hold on in a wild game against Arkansas in early November. Ole Miss would be lining up for a rematch with Florida in the SEC Championship Game this weekend, and would probably find themselves as a pretty significant favorite, given the Gators’ offensive struggles as of late.

SOUTH CAROLINA GAMECOCKS

Story line: When will the Gamecocks strike with the hiring of a new head coach?

There are plenty of reasons to criticize Steve Spurrier’s decision to make a midseason exit, but one of the advantages it did provide was an opportunity to get a jump on most of the rest of the country in starting a coaching search. That extra time should mean that the Gamecocks are closer to a decision on a coach than most.

TENNESSEE VOLUNTEERS

Story line: Time to fire the hype machine back up again, the Vols may have been as good as we thought they’d be.

Tennessee finished the regular season on a five-game winning streak to finish at 8-4. Considering two of the teams the Vols lost to are projected to be in the College Football Playoff, a third is the SEC East champ and the fourth has a winning record in the SEC West, it’s time to consider that the Vols may actually be on their way to being elite again.

TEXAS A&M AGGIES

Story line: Kevin Sumlin just hasn’t gotten over the hump in big games.

It is hard to be too critical of an 8-4 season, but the Aggies sure didn’t win many games they weren’t supposed to this season. Kevin Sumlin has done a nice job of winning all of the games that he’s supposed to win, but it is time to start wondering if he’s going to get the Aggies over the hump in a brutally tough SEC West.

VANDERBILT COMMODORES

Story line: Derek Mason must find a way to get something going on offense.

His job may depend on it. We can overlook a complete dud of a performance in the season finale against Tennessee to acknowledge that the Commodores defense was much improved this year, but there is no indication of progress on the offensive side of the ball. He’s leaving potential wins on the table because of it.