The SEC's bowl records from the BCS era
The 16-year reign of the BCS came to an end this year with the ushering in of the College Football Playoff, and with it came the end of a period of dominance by the SEC.
The conference won seven straight national championships and eight of the 16 BCS titles during that span, and it expanded from 12 to 14 teams since the start of the BCS era. All 14 SEC teams played in at least four bowl games since 1998, and 13 of the 14 teams played in at least seven bowl games in that time.
Related: Breakdown of the SEC’s bowl records the last five years
Ole Miss and Mississippi State posted the best postseason win-loss records in the SEC during the BCS era, combining to win 14 of 17 bowl appearances. Vanderbilt only reached four bowl games in 16 years, but it won three of those four games to capitalize on those postseason appearances.
Four SEC teams finished with losing records in bowl games dating back to 1998 — Tennessee, Kentucky, Arkansas and Texas A&M. Tennessee and Kentucky both finished one game below-500, while Arkansas and A&M both finished multiple games below-500 in posting the SEC’s worst bowl game win percentages of the BCS era.
Here’s a breakdown of how all 14 SEC teams fared in bowl games during the BCS era from 1998-2013:
Rank | School | W | L | Win % |
1 | Ole Miss | 8 | 1 | 88.89% |
2 | Mississippi St. | 6 | 2 | 75.00% |
3 | Vanderbilt | 3 | 1 | 75.00% |
4 | Georgia | 11 | 5 | 68.75% |
5 | Auburn | 8 | 4 | 66.67% |
6 | LSU | 9 | 5 | 64.29% |
7 | Missouri | 6 | 4 | 60.00% |
8 | South Carolina | 6 | 4 | 60.00% |
9 | Alabama | 7 | 6 | 53.85% |
10 | Florida | 8 | 7 | 53.33% |
11 | Tennessee | 5 | 6 | 45.45% |
12 | Kentucky | 3 | 4 | 42.86% |
13 | Arkansas | 4 | 7 | 36.36% |
14 | Texas A&M | 4 | 8 | 33.33% |