I think they are saying it has been down years for the SEC East because the traditionally strong programs have not been strong. UT has been historically bad (for them) the past few years, Florida has been an offensive dumpster fire since Muschamp took over, and UGA can never quite get over the hump. In addition to all of that, the SEC West has been one of the toughest divisions in football the past few years, making the East look much weaker by comparison. So I would say it has little to do with Mizzou winning, and much more to do with the many other teams that make up the SEC East not being as good as normal. You know, having "down" years.

This is super disappointing. I though SaturdayDownSouth actually wanted to be looked at as an actual source of news. Posting crap like this does not help their case. Watch the whole video.

Alma MATER. Alma matter is not a thing.

Based on 247 (http://247sports.com/Season/2015-Football/RecruitRankings?State=TN; http://247sports.com/Season/2014-Football/RecruitRankings?State=TN) in the last two recruiting cycles (since Mason took over), Mizzou has poached a total of 4 of the top 50 players in TN over those 2 years. Vandy has 7 of them. The number going to Mizzou was 3 last year, only looking like 1 this year. For Vandy it was 3 last year, and 4 this year. At least the data backs up your off-the-cuff argument...

Point by point: - Mizzou is only the most likely team to win the SEC East if you believe they have at least a 70% chance of winning their next two games (give or take a little). You may believe that, but it does not make it a fact. - 2013 bowl games have no bearing on 2014. If they did, Alabama would not be ranked #1, and my 'Dores would not be the bottom-dwellers of the SEC. - I would love to know how you have proven that 2013 FSU (the undefeated national champion) is on par with Oklahoma State. - the SEC champion absolutely could get left out of the playoffs (especially if it is the team from the East). - if Mizzou's defense and tailbacks are so great, why is a .500 football team favored to beat them by 3 (and in some places 4) points? In summary, stop drinking so early in the day.

I think the committee places a very high value on quality of victory, especially over quality of defeat. Oregon's win over Michigan State is (now) a better win than any win Miss State has had this year. The issue for Miss State this week wasn't them losing by 5 on the road, it was LSU, Auburn, and Texas A&M all losing.

It also gives their camp some name recognition and could get better players to show up. Having good players on your campus for a week as a small but growing program sure isn't a bad thing. Plus it's also possible that the Georgia State coaches could learn some things from these more successful coaches.

Brian, what are your thoughts about how the Vandy recruiting class is shaping up compared to where it was before Franklin left? Also, do you think that Vandy can/will continue to recruit with the same success (i.e. top 25 classes) that we did with Franklin here? I'm really excited about Mason as an in-game coach, but don't know much about his recruiting background and would love to hear your thoughts.

Dammit.

@Fred Giles, strong response. Sound logic displayed throughout. I am now convinced of your point of view, and am a better educated, more rounded fan for having read your response. //end sarcasm

"saying we can't* ever"

You're right. Those must have been the Birmingham locals who showed up for the Compass Bowl (easily 30,000 in Black and Gold for a game that we were disappointed to get). I understand the joke, and I have written on here before about how Vandy will have a hard time ever matching the fan base size of most SEC schools due to how small it is and the fact that UT historically has a more successful football program and gets picked up by more unassociated Tennesseans as a result. But saying that we can ever come close winning the East is just ignorant. Look at Stanford and what they have done. There is no reason that Vanderbilt can't accomplish the same things.

Historically, definitely not. And I know anyone can choose their favorite length of time to measure these things, but over the last 2 year, definitely yes. UT's coach is doing some good work (especially in recruiting), but until UT beats Vandy, I'll claim that crown.

This is the common criticism, and one that is definitely at least a little valid. But let's also not pretend that a school like Vanderbilt (6k students, by far the smallest in the SEC) should have the same quantity of fan support that other SEC schools enjoy. We produce 1,500 alumni per year, most of whom wind up moving out of state. Compare that to a school like UT that has about 28k students, most of whom come from (and are more likely to stay in) the state of Tennessee. The demographics are so drastically different that you can't try to make a straight-up comparison to other SEC schools. That being said, as the team has had more success the stadium has been getting more full. As he continues to build a winning program the city of Nashville is more and more starting to adopt Vandy as their team, it's just a process that takes some time. Lastly, we just sent 30k fans (on the low end) to our bowl game. For a school our size, we do a pretty good job supporting the team already. I would still love to see us sell out our stadium every single week, and need a bigger one. And I think we will as the program continues to grow. Just wanted to point out some things that most people don't think about when they decide to start bashing Vanderbilt's fans.

I think if Auburn can force 2 turnovers they win the game. And I think they will. Auburn over FSU 35-31

It was great to see Jordan get to have a good final game, although it could have been much better with even average QB play. I have heard that ESPN somehow managed to make the crowds look somewhat even, which is incredible seeing as Vandy probably had about 35k there to Houston's 5k. Now let's just hope that Auburn can take care of business and make it 8 wins for this year for the SEC and national championships in a row. War Eagle!

While I wish that were true, aTm and Vandy played this year, and it's pretty clear that those Aggies are better than my 'Dores at this point. Head-to-head still has to count for something.

I didn't realize that everything going perfectly involved losing your starting QB before halftime... Maybe UGA should have tried that strategy more often this year...

I think he did this just for Grantham. They seem to be great friends.

As a Commodore fan, I recognize that there were many things that went wrong for UGA in that game. Injuries in particular have been cruel to the Dawgs this year. That being said, shut up. Your team lost. Even with the injuries your team still fielded more highly-regarded players than Vandy did. And it's not like everything went perfect for us either and we were gifted the game by some fluke. We lost our starting QB before halftime and still had more than 100 yards more than UGA during the game. You weren't the only team that made mistakes that day. You think Carta-Samuels' screen pass that was intercepted was any different than sending a punt over the punter's head? I'm sorry you had a bad year, and I fully expect that next year y'all will be much better, but learn to give some credit where credit is due. Otherwise you just reflect poorly on your team.

Should Auburn be apologizing for their "fluke" wins over Mizzou and Texas A&M also? While both of the wins you mentioned did involve some last minute heroics, it's not like they were just lucky to be hanging around in either of those games. The Auburn running game shredded Alabama. They dominated UGA for 3 quarters. I am fully aware that they could have lost both of those games, but don't act like they were lucky to be involved.

Damn it.

The previous record was 75 according to the announcers.

There's this guy named Johnny Manziel, who is probably playing his last college football game ever in his bowl this year. You may have heard of him. Any bowl (which is essentially just trying to make money) would pick him and his draw over a team that had a disappointing year (only because of high expectations, not because it was bad) that is missing roughly half of it's starting offense.

They would probably say something about Vanderbilt having to stay in-state for the third year in a row, despite beating the team that got selected over them head-to-head. I understand that the Gator Bowl would prefer to have the large public institution with boatloads of alumni/fans over the much smaller private institution that is further away, but in terms of rewarding the players for a good season, it really sucks to think we may have to stay in-state yet again. Also interested to see if the Aaron Murray injury has any impact on the selection here.

Even if you don't think they are #4 team in the country, I think that any top ten team beating the #1 team in the country in their home stadium cannot be mentioned in the same breath as something like an FCS team beating a top 5 team in their home stadium in the first game of the year. Especially given that Alabama was not as strong this year as they have been in the past.

South Carolina over Clemson also, 31-17. Good day for the SEC against the ACC, but a bad day for the odds of The Streak continuing.

I don't think you can reasonably call the #4 team in the country beating the #1 team in the country "one of the biggest upsets in the history of college football." I think that Appalachian State may have some words to say about that, amongst many others.