The SEC West is as good as it gets in terms of divisions around the country.

In 2014, six of the division’s seven teams were ranked, all six of those teams appearing in the top 10 of the polls at some point during the season. The only team that didn’t crack the polls, Arkansas, shut out two of its divisional rivals in consecutive weeks. You’re really talking about a brutal slate when the last-place finisher can beat a New Year’s Six team by 30 points.

This coming fall is shaping up to be just as hotly contested. Arkansas continues improving from the depths it hit in 2012; Auburn and Texas A&M made moves to shore up their problematic defenses; Ole Miss has some of the best headlining talent in the nation; Mississippi State has the best quarterback in the conference, while LSU has the best running back; of course, Alabama isn’t going anywhere either.

It seems like a good bet that, once again, all seven teams from the West will play in a bowl game come December and January.

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The problem probably won’t be winning the six games needed to obtain bowl eligibility for any of these teams. The real issue is that, with all of the talent spread across the seven teams, someone has to finish in last place.

Of course, finishing last in this division won’t necessarily be an indictment of any team’s talent level, either on the field or on the sideline. The West has a chance to be historically good once again in 2015. There are a few teams for which a last-place finish would be either unthinkable or unacceptable — and could lead to someone losing their job.

That’s the price a coach can pay when they have a price tag like the SEC West’s coaches. After Bret Bielema, Hugh Freeze and Dan Mullen all got raises this offseason, every coach in the West makes at least $4 million annually. Even with SEC revenues soaring, thanks to the College Football Playoff and the SEC Network, not many schools are going to want to continue to shell out that kind of money to see their team finish in last place.

Who could be in danger with a season in the West’s cellar? Nick Saban is bulletproof at Alabama, with three national titles and as strong a resume as anyone in the nation. After their extensions, the trio of Bielema, Freeze and Mullen are likely safe for at least this year, although a regression to the basement (or remaining there, in Bielema’s case) would cause some murmurs heading into 2016.

The West’s other three coaches will start to feel their seat heating up if they wind up last. This is a make-or-break year for Kevin Sumlin at Texas A&M, the first in which the team will be made up entirely of his recruits. At $5 million per year, his salary says that A&M expects a lot more than finishing seventh in the division.

Les Miles is coming off his worst season at the helm at LSU, and another down year — especially if the Tigers’ quarterback situation doesn’t improve — would raise some questions about his status. It could also spell the end of Cam Cameron’s time at LSU if the well-compensated offensive coordinator can’t get his side of the ball on the right track.

Auburn comes into the year with great expectations, with many projecting the Tigers as at least a top-10 team and others pegging them as a CFP contender. If Gus Malzahn’s team falls well short of expectations — finishing last int he West would be a catastrophe — that could spell trouble. Keep in mind, Gene Chizik was fired just two years after winning a national title with the Tigers, but he went 2-10 in 2012. Auburn will not be anywhere close to that bad. However, after adding Will Muschamp to run the defense this year, a last-place finish would be unacceptable on the Plains and could make 2016 an interesting year for Auburn.

That’s not to say any of the West’s coaches are definitely in jeopardy in 2015. It’s more to say that any one of seven very good coaches could wind up sitting at the bottom of the divisional table looking up at the end of November, bowl bid in hand or not.

All seven teams are loaded with talent good enough to compete with anyone in the nation, both between the white lines and standing on the sideline. While its possible that all seven teams would be able to win the East, geography doesn’t give them that option. It might not be fair, but someone is going to be in the West’s basement at the end of 2015.