The SEC West entered bowl season a few well-placed wins away from entering history as one of, if not the, best division in college football history.

Instead, bottom-dwellers Texas A&M and Arkansas opened up with wins, then the top five finishers in the SEC West all lost.

LSU lost a close game to Notre Dame with defensive coordinator John Chavis on his way out the door. Then Ole Miss and Mississippi State watched dream seasons vanish on New Year’s Eve.

Surely the Yellowhammer State could save the slide, right? Especially against the Big Ten? But it was not to be, as the SEC didn’t even make the national championship game.

Which of the five SEC West teams is blushing hardest? We asked the SDS staff to debate.

WHICH SEC WEST TEAM SUFFERED THE GREATEST EMBARRASSMENT DURING BOWL SEASON?

Brad Crawford (@BCrawfordSDS): Mississippi State

I’m going with Mississippi State since the obvious answer is Ole Miss. At least the Rebels have an Egg Bowl win this season. The Bulldogs not only saw their hopes of a national championship end in Tuscaloosa as the SEC’s last remaining unbeaten (and ranked No. 1 no less), but rivalry weekend was an all-around disappointment to Dan Mullen’s squad who proved to let the loss linger in the Orange Bowl. Without defensive coordinator Geoff Collins, Mississippi State was lost defensively, giving up more than 450 yards rushing to Georgia Tech. Arguably the ACC’s third-best team behind Clemson, the Yellow Jackets never trailed and even made a couple big plays in the passing game en route to 49 points.

Chris Walsh (@CrimsonWalsh): Ole Miss

I know TCU had a huge chip on its shoulder, and Ole Miss wasn’t really playing for anything, but three points? And they came after a fourth-quarter interception set up in the offense with first down at the 11. Ole Miss had four turnovers, was limited to 129 total yards, and it allowed 42 points after finishing the regular season first in scoring defense.

Ethan Levine (@EthanLevineSDS): Ole Miss

Each of the SEC West’s five bowl losses included some level of humiliation, but no team left bowl season more deflated than the Ole Miss Rebels. Ole Miss turned the ball over on just the third play of the game, and trailed 42-0 with more than 25 minutes still remaining in the second half. Had TCU chosen to keep its foot on the gas and run up the score, it could’ve won by more than 60 points with ease. The Rebels are used to turnover-prone quarterback Bo Wallace falling apart in his worst games, but the Horned Frogs’ offensive onslaught shocked the Rebels’ top-ranked scoring defense. TCU dismantled Ole Miss in all three phases of the game, and it all occurred in the first-ever New Year’s Six bowl game with an enormous national audience watching. The stakes might have been higher in Alabama’s loss to Ohio State, but the Tide lost a close game to a red-hot opponent. Ole Miss, on the other hand, failed to live up to its hype as the best three-loss team in America, embarrassing its brand at the end of an otherwise-historic season in Oxford.

Jason Hall (@JasonHallSDS): Mississippi State, Ole Miss

Ole Miss and Mississippi State entered with high expectations after contending in the SEC West for most of the season. But both teams laid an egg (no pun intended) in their respective bowl games. Ole Miss lost 42-3, while Mississippi State fell 49-34 after entering as a heavy favorite. The Magnolia State teams both looked flat in their bowl appearances and were a big part of the SEC West’s disappointing bowl performance.

Drew Laing (@DLaingSDS): Ole Miss

This one is easy. The Rebels didn’t bother to show up to the Peach Bowl. Everything went wrong for them as Bo Wallace struggled to complete passes to his own team, injuries piled up to key guys and the Landshark defense appeared to belong to TCU. Do I think the Horned Frogs are 39 points better than the Rebels? No. But TCU proved its definitely one of the top teams in the country and also showed that Ole Miss may have been a bit overrated in the top 10.

Brett Weisband (@BWeisbandSDS): LSU

The Tigers loss to Notre Dame was embarrassing on multiple levels. First, the quarterback that gashed them over and over was making his first career start. As good as Notre Dame’s Malik Zaire may one day be, a defense as talented as LSU’s should have been more prepared for what it was going to face. To make that issue even worse, it appeared after the fact (and really during the game as well) that the lack of preparedness was due to the distraction caused by the John Chavis-to-Texas A&M rumors that ended up being true. Add in that LSU got a beastly game from freshman star Leonard Fournette and still couldn’t capitalize and LSU’s loss is as shameful as any in the West, even if they kept it close.

Jordan Cox (@Jordan_Cox): Auburn

It’s easy to say Ole Miss. Not to say that my esteemed colleagues are taking the easy way out, but the Rebels lost its two key offensive players, Bad Bo decided to show up and TCU was going to be out with a vengeance against any team. The Tigers, however, wrote the same chapter to end a disappointing 2014 story. Even after a change on the defensive side of the ball, and even with its defense forcing three turnovers, Wisconsin — in its one-dimensional offense — torched the Auburn defense who looked to have no life left in it after the horrifying final eight weeks of the season beginning with the loss at Mississippi State. Melvin Gordon set an Outback Bowl record for rushing yards and Wisconsin as a team rushed for 400 yards against Auburn — 400! Wisconsin was inept at quarterback and still found a way to beat Auburn, when the Tigers knew what was coming. Why interim defensive coordinator Charlie Harbison didn’t put 10 in the box and make the Badgers beat him through the air is beyond me. Auburn ought to be ashamed of itself.