Last year, I found myself obsessed with all the weird stats from the Alabama-Tennessee rivalry.

Vols fans might disagree with that, but hey, the numbers were wild. To go 15 consecutive years without winning a game against a bitter rival is next to impossible. Then again, building what Nick Saban has built also is next to impossible.

But even more baffling was the fact that before Josh Heupel arrived, Alabama hadn’t allowed Tennessee to exceed 21 points for 17 consecutive matchups (2004-20). A 24-point performance in Year 1 was followed by an epic 52-point showing to end the skid in Year 2.

It got me thinking about some other SEC rivalries and the bizarre numbers that are associated with some of them.

Here are 7 that I found particularly interesting:

1. Mississippi State’s last passing TD vs. Alabama came from Dak Prescott in 2014

I know. I had to look this up 3 times. It’s wild.

Prescott had a touchdown pass to Jameon Lewis in the final seconds of the 2014 game, when the Bulldogs were No. 1 in the country. Since then, the 2 teams have played 480 minutes and 15 seconds of football, and 180 of those came with Mike Leach, AKA the offensive play-caller behind the most high-volume passing attack the game has ever seen. Zero touchdown passes.

And sure, Nick Saban’s defense isn’t exactly a group known for allowing a whole bunch of passing scores, though the past 5 Alabama groups haven’t been invincible. Will that change with Kevin Barbay operating the Mississippi State offense in 2023? I’d say don’t count on it.

2. The road team in Kentucky-Mississippi State hasn’t won since 2014

Speaking of things that haven’t happened since Prescott was in Starkville, yeah, this one defies logic, too. The past 2 years, it took upsets to keep that alive. Three times, an unranked or lower-ranked team beat a higher-ranked team. It’s become one of those games where you feel like if the road team would win, it would yield “one of those years” for either team. For all the success they’ve had from a rebuilding standpoint, it’s still teams with a combined 3 winning seasons in SEC play in the 21st century.

Winning games on the road against quality competition has proven to be a challenge … which includes facing each other.

3. LSU is tied for its longest win streak ever vs. Florida

Yep. The only other time that LSU won 4 in a row against Florida was from 1977-80.

Four games doesn’t really sound like that long of a streak, but consider this: LSU endured its worst 2-year stretch of the 21st century in 2020-21, and yet it found ways to beat Florida in both seasons. A Marco Wilson thrown shoe might’ve had something to do with that. It’s not really talked about that the last time Florida beat LSU was the Brad Stewart pick-6 of Joe Burrow in 2018, which I always say is the loudest moment that I’ve ever heard at a sporting event.

Since then, though, it’s been all Tigers. LSU’s worst single-game scoring output during that stretch was the 37-point showing in 2020. In other words, that 2018 pick-6 was the last time that Florida could stop LSU (and not throw a shoe).

4. Mizzou’s longest active SEC win streak is 4 vs. South Carolina

It’s easy to forget that the Tigers have owned the Gamecocks. Like, Shane Beamer has wins against 3 of 5 active national championship coaches, and yet he’s 0-2 against Eli Drinkwitz. The current streak isn’t just a Drinkwitz thing, either. Barry Odom got it started in 2019 with a 34-14 beatdown, which looked even stranger a couple weeks later when South Carolina stunned Georgia in Athens.

But yes, Mizzou has 4 consecutive wins against the Gamecocks. Who were the starting quarterbacks the last time that South Carolina beat Mizzou, you ask? Drew Lock and Michael Scarnecchia. It was a monsoon in Columbia (South Carolina), and go figure that it was on the same exact day as the aforementioned 2018 LSU-Florida thriller.

South Carolina won’t take that next step toward a New Year’s 6 bowl without ending the Mayor’s Cup drought.

5. Auburn hasn’t had a 250-yard passer vs. Georgia since 2005

OK, so I was at first going to include the fact that Auburn hasn’t scored multiple touchdowns in Athens since 2009, which was a year before Cam Newton arrived. Then I realized that the 250-yard passer thing dates back even further. That seems impossible, but just like how Auburn hasn’t had a top-40 passing offense since 1997, it’s very much possible.

It wasn’t Newton, Nick Marshall, Jarrett Stidham or Bo Nix who threw for 250 yards against Georgia (the Prayer at Jordan-Hare got Marshall to 243 on the day). It was Brandon Cox who last had a 250-yard passing performance against the Dawgs back in 2005. Mind you, these teams have played 18 times from 2006-22 (don’t forget the 2017 SEC Championship) during an era in which passing numbers boomed like crazy. The fact that the streak predates Kirby Smart by a decade is pretty wild, too.

Much like having its first top-40 passing offense of the 21st century feels inevitable with Hugh Freeze, so too does the 250-yard passer drought against the Dawgs.

6. It has been 20 years since Tennessee won at Florida or Alabama

I know, I know. Vols fans know this. I don’t need to remind them. I did think that was interesting after Tennessee ended long losing streaks against both squads last year, albeit in the friendly confines of Neyland Stadium.

But man, 2003 was a long time ago. Nick Saban was still at LSU. The youngest current coach in the SEC, Zach Arnett, was in high school. The 2003 game at Alabama gave us the 5-overtime thriller, which was the longest contest ever for both programs. Ron Zook was the last Florida coach to lose to the Vols in Gainesville, but since then, Urban Meyer, Will Muschamp, Jim McElwain and Dan Mullen all prevented Tennessee from winning in The Swamp.

Tennessee is sitting on 9 consecutive road losses in both venues. Will the Vols avoid double digits in either rivalry when they travel for those matchups this year? Now feels like as good a time as any to stop the (road) bleeding.

7. The longest active SEC win streak among yearly opponents is … Alabama vs. Arkansas (16 years)

Arkansas is the last current SEC West foe yet to conquer Nick Saban’s Alabama. The last win vs. the Tide came in 2006 when a missed extra point in overtime opened the door for the Hogs. But Saban is a perfect 16-0 against Arkansas. His defense only surrendered more than 20 points on 5 of those occasions, though 2 of those were in the past 2 years with KJ Jefferson as the starting quarterback.

Here’s a thought — Sam Pittman inherited a program that was searching for its first SEC win in over 1,000 days when the 2020 season started. He has since beaten every SEC West team at least once … except for Alabama. If there’s a school that would gladly pay a fine for a field rush, it would be Arkansas finally getting the 16-year Alabama monkey of its back.