Wasson: Final grades for all 16 SEC teams after the 2024 regular season

The super-sized Southeastern Conference provided more thrills than any other season in history – week after week of highlight-filled upsets and superlative performances from Fayetteville to Columbia, from Austin to Nashville.

But while some of these young adults are making millions in Name, Image and Likeness dough, they still technically are student-athletes. Thus, with the regular-season complete, it is now final grade time for each team in the SEC!

Alabama Crimson Tide: B-

Grade justified: Any football season that ends without the Crimson Tide playing for an SEC championship or Playoff consideration is considered a failure in Tuscaloosa. That’s the reality ever since Nick Saban stepped on campus in 2007, and still looms large as Saban looms just out of frame. New coach Kalen DeBoer had Alabama at No. 1 at one juncture, only to throw it all away at Vanderbilt.

Arkansas Razorbacks: C+

Grade justified: The Hogs getting to bowl eligibility – losing all 6 games to ranked teams – in this new SEC era is impressive and might be enough to keep the hobbled Sam Pittman employed. Who doesn’t love what quarterback Taylen Green can give to Arkansas, though his tendency to throw it to the other team at times can cost the Razorbacks.

Auburn Tigers: D

Grade justified: Finishing 5-7 and losing to Alabama in the Iron Bowl, the ice is rapidly thawing under Hugh Freeze’s Nikes. There were glimmers of hope, especially beating Texas A&M in a November shootout, and quarterback Payton Thorne still has a year of eligibility left. If Thorne stays on The Plains and doesn’t subject Auburn to the bleak QB room behind him, it is bound to get better next season.

Florida Gators: B+

Grade justified: Raise your hand if you had Billy Napier’s Gators celebrating and stomping on the FSU logo before the season started … exactly. Napier went from next on the unemployment line to SEC Coach of the Year candidate by steadily guiding Florida through a brutal schedule and knocking off ranked LSU and ranked Ole Miss on consecutive weeks. Thumping the Seminoles at the end also didn’t hurt. Simply put, quarterback DJ Lagway is a force multiplier.

Georgia Bulldogs: A-

Grade justified: Watching the Dawgs week after week is like riding a roller coaster that you just hope pulls safely into the station at the end. Losses to Alabama and Ole Miss were those dip-sharp corner combos that forcibly readjust the spine, hammering Texas at Austin is that full-speed hill crest that makes you momentarily weightless. And needing 8 overtimes to outlast Georgia Tech is the car you’re in suddenly stopping short of the station and whimpering home. But hey, you made it!

Kentucky Wildcats: D

Grade justified: Mark Stoops’ team almost deserved huzzahs by dragging No. 1 Georgia to the deep end of the pool in a 13-12 September loss. But getting drilled by Florida and falling at home to Auburn in a brutal 4-game midseason losing streak tasted like sour milk. Getting pounded by Louisville 41-14 in the finale for the Governor’s Cup also won’t go over well in Lexington – and neither will an offense that mustered just 22.3 points per game (115th in the nation). Stoops 4-8 record is his worst since going 2-10 in Year 1.

LSU Tigers: C

Grade justified: We tried to tell you that Brian Kelly is an 8-4 coach, but some of y’all are hard-headed and wanted to argue. A 3-game slide that was capped by losing on the road at Florida signaled doom in Baton Rouge, as did quarterback Garrett Nussmeier throwing it 11 times to opposing defenses in 2024. With Kelly’s recruiting classes and the embarrassing talent riches LSU piles up every year, this season was simply a disappointment.

Mississippi State Bulldogs: F

Grade justified: So, you wanna be an SEC football coach? Try being Jeff Lebby, who was lured to Starkville for his first head coaching gig and promptly inherited the worst team in the league. Zero conference wins (and just 2 overall, to Eastern Kentucky and UMass) made the Bulldogs the SEC’s punching bag all season. Lebby better look to the transfer portal in an attempt to quickly muster up some talent, because 2025 doesn’t look all that rosier.

Missouri Tigers: B-

Grade justified: By any objective measure, a 9-3 season in CoMo is well above average. But coach Eli Drinkwitz’s Tigers had much grander aspirations until road losses at Texas A&M and South Carolina squashed them. Mizzou played a manageable schedule by current SEC standards and made mincemeat where it was supposed to. Gritty quarterback Brady Cook goes out a winner, though, and will hopefully get a warm-weather bowl game as a parting gift.

Oklahoma Sooners: C

Grade justified: Welcome to the SEC, Sooners! Brent Venables’ team had to feel like it was in a perpetual spin cycle, getting tossed around by Tennessee, Texas, South Carolina, Ole Miss and LSU. But the Sooners did go a perfect 2-0 against the state of Alabama – edging Auburn 27-21 and stunning then-No. 7 Alabama 24-3 – so there certainly are glimmers of hope. Sophomore quarterback Jackson Arnold learned on the job all season and has a bright future.

Ole Miss Rebels: B-

Grade justified: If this were a TikTok or Instagram grade, the Rebels would get an A+. Lane Kiffin’s flashy Ole Miss team entered 2024 with a tremendous amount of fanfare and expectation – only to cough it up at home against Kentucky. Losing at LSU was no crime, but watching quarterback Jaxson Dart actively throw it to Florida Gators in The Swamp certainly felt like a punishable offense. Kiffin simply has to squeeze more out of the Rebels than he did in 2024.

South Carolina Gamecocks: A

Grade justified: The flip side of the 9-3 coin here, as the Gamecocks finish with the identical record as Alabama and Ole Miss – but drastically overachieved to get there. The 6-game winning streak to end the season should be enough to make the College Football Playoff, and should also earn Shane Beamer some Coach of the Year huzzahs. Quarterback LaNorris Sellers is the future in Columbia – if they can keep him.

Tennessee Volunteers: A-

Grade justified: Oh what could have been if Arkansas didn’t defend the homeland on Oct. 5. That stunning 19-14 loss put Tennessee behind the curve, though the Volunteers responded 2 weeks later by taking down Alabama at Neyland Stadium. Falling by 2 TDs between the hedges to Georgia wasn’t totally unexpected, as quarterback Nico Iamaleava is still a work in progress. The (likely) Playoff-bound Vols showed gumption, too, just last Saturday by rallying from an early deficit to dispatch pesky Vanderbilt.

Texas A&M Aggies: B+

Grade justified: Listen, Mike Elko worked wonders in College Station this year, taking the smoldering heap of mess that Jimbo Fisher left behind and molding it into a contender. But losing at South Carolina and Auburn put the Aggies behind the 8-ball a bit, though they still had a chance to make the SEC Championship Game by overcoming Texas in the finale. Alas, that wasn’t to be … but beware of Texas A&M moving forward.

Texas Longhorns: A+

Grade justified: The class of an insanely stocked conference, Texas heads to the SEC title game in its first season as a member. Getting there meant taking the bumps and bruises — literally with Quinn Ewers missing time via an oblique injury and being hobbled with a high-ankle sprain, and figuratively when Georgia dominated in Austin. But Steve Sarkisian’s Playoff-bound Longhorns looked great before and after that Oct. 20 setback, and now get a rematch with the Bulldogs in Atlanta in the SEC title game.

Vanderbilt Commodores: A-

Grade justified: How could you not love the Commodores? Of course, they don’t exactly love Vandy right now in Tuscaloosa, but Clark Lea’s team was a bona fide national darling after knocking off then-No. 1 Alabama in a Nashville thriller. Losing 36-32 to Georgia State in Week 3 was a clear outlier in what was otherwise a thrilling season by Vanderbilt standards.

David Wasson

An APSE national award-winning writer and page designer, David Wasson has almost four decades of experience in the print journalism business in Florida and Alabama. His work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and several national magazines and websites. His Twitter handle: @JustDWasson.