The SEC went 8-2 in bowl games, including an all-important win for Alabama in the College Football Playoff.

That means the Tide play again on Jan. 11 for another national title. The other 13 SEC teams will not take the field again until spring practice, and no matter what Bama does against Clemson, coach Nick Saban’s program will rank No. 1 in the SEC as we close out 2015.

So we decided now is an appropriate time to release our final 2015 season SEC power rankings.

Note: () by each team indicates whether teams moved up, down or remained unchanged.

HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS

14. South Carolina (–)
13. Missouri (–)
12. Kentucky (-1)
11. Vanderbilt (+1)

The Wildcats closed the season losers of six of their final seven games, and then fired offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson as two of the three scholarship quarterbacks announced intentions to transfer. That probably has something to do with UK getting passed by Vandy in our final power rankings despite the fact that none of these teams played in bowl games. The bottom teams on this list, South Carolina and Mizzou, both have hired new coaches in Will Muschamp and Barry Odom. Mark Stoops excels during recruiting season, and Derek Mason made tangible progress in his second season. So at least there’s some newness and some hope among these four teams.

SEC WEST COACHES UNDER SCRUTINY

10. Texas A&M (-1)
9. Auburn (+1)

Both of these teams experienced on-field letdowns and off-field attrition. Texas A&M lost both of its underclassmen five-star starting quarterbacks to transfers, then fired its offensive coordinator. The Aggies have been pointed toward 2016 for quite some time as a crucial year, and if anything that team has regressed since mid-season. A bowl loss to Louisville — one of two the SEC endured — didn’t help, not with Louisville’s freshman dual-threat quarterback trashing John Chavis’ defense. Auburn played terrific football in the Birmingham Bowl, especially on defense, holding likely first-round NFL quarterback Paxton Lynch to just 3 offensive points. But the Tigers just hired the team’s third defensive coordinator in three years, and needed that win against Memphis to secure a winning record after starting the year as the preseason SEC favorite. Sumlin’s job clearly is on the line in ’16. Malzahn isn’t to that point yet, but the grumblings will turn into screams unless Auburn gets much better next season.

10 WINS, BUT NOT GREAT

8. Florida (-1)
7. Georgia (+1)

If you spent the entire season in some sort of coma, then only watched a couple games by each team — at mid-season for Georgia and at year’s end for Florida — you’d never guess these teams each won 10 games. The Gators, SEC East champions, were 10-1 before enduring three consecutive losses, the last a 41-7 blasting by Michigan. Georgia has won five consecutive games, the last four of the one-possession variety. But UGA lost to arguably the three best teams it faced and didn’t look great against teams like Georgia Southern and Missouri. At least the Bulldogs were able to fend off a nice comeback by Penn State’s backup quarterback to notch a bowl win, which was impressive considering the lack of continuity among the coaching staff and how meaningless the outcome was.

DOMINANT OFFENSIVE BOWL PERFORMANCES

T5. Mississippi State (-2)
T5. LSU (–)
4. Arkansas (–)

All three of these programs impressed during their bowl performances against teams from the ACC or Big 12. Mississippi State (51 points), LSU (56) and Arkansas (45) each piled up points against bad defenses. Those were important wins for the perception of the SEC, adding to the conference’s record eight bowl wins and penalizing two of the other power conferences in the process. The voting margin among these three teams according to our panelists was razor thin, as there was almost zero separation between them. So the Bulldogs’ two-spot decline is a bit of a misnomer and more of a reflection of the voters re-thinking Tennessee. Considering Mississippi State missed what would’ve been a game-winning field goal against LSU and beat Arkansas by one point, it makes sense that these three teams are so tightly woven. It’s also a good indication of just how difficult the SEC West was this year from top to bottom.

KICKING THEMSELVES FOR EARLY LOSSES

3. Tennessee (+3)
2. Ole Miss (–)

The Vols were big movers in our final poll after smashing previous Associated Press No. 12 Northwestern into submission at the line of scrimmage. Tennessee now is considered the best team in the SEC East in 2015, never mind the fact that the Vols never can beat the Florida Gators. UT very well could be voted as a preseason top 10 team for the first time since 2005, featuring a strong defense and running game. Ole Miss? The Rebels beat Alabama, crushed Oklahoma State in the Sugar Bowl and came very close to representing the SEC West in Atlanta. Chad Kelly’s superb performance in the bowl game was a strong reminder that Ole Miss isn’t going to just dissolve now that the Class of 2013 stars are headed to the NFL.

NATIONAL TITLE FAVORITE

1. Alabama (–)

Remember when some folks were ready to proclaim the Tide’s so-called dynasty was over after Ole Miss won in Tuscaloosa? Now Bama is a considerable favorite in the national championship game against Clemson. In arguably the conference’s best bowl season ever, the Tide’s 38-0 romp over Michigan State stands out as the best of the bunch. With a strong performance against Clemson, this will become Nick Saban’s fourth national title team at Alabama and perhaps his second-best team ever behind the unbeaten 2009 group.