After a long few months (especially if you’re an Arkansas fan), the 2019 regular season has finally come to an end. The only thing we have left to decide is what seed LSU will be in the Playoff and if Georgia will actually run its real offense Saturday instead of whatever it has been running the previous 14 weeks.
So with the regular season done and bowl games around the corner, let’s take a look around the SEC and see how each fan base is feeling.
Alabama
Well, the season didn’t end the way quite the way you were hoping for. But on the bright side, every time the national media says the Bama dynasty is coming to an end, Nick Saban always finds a way to make them eat their words very quickly. And hey, if you only make the Playoff 5 out of every 6 years, you can live with that.
Arkansas
No one in the SEC is happier to see their season end than Arkansas fans. Now they just need to make sure the coaching search doesn’t go the way the regular season did. And if that means hiring Lane Kiffin, then so be it.
Auburn
Oh, you know, another year, another ranked Auburn team beating Nick Saban at Jordan-Hare. It’s just clockwork at this point. And now that we know Gus and Bo Nix are here to stay, you might as well just sit back and enjoy the ride … until about October of next year when you’ll be desperately hoping the Arkansas job opens back up so Gus can take it.
Florida
Well that was fun. After a full decade of Gators fans pounding their head against the wall, they got to watch the 2019 version of their team win 10 games and crush their biggest rival. Everything is great. Just please don’t ask about what happened in their other biggest rivalry game.
Georgia
No team on the verge of the Playoff has ever been more unhappy with their team than what Georgia fans are currently. But the good news is that all can change with a victory Saturday. Although the bad news is they’ll probably need a couple of people to transfer in between now and the start of the first half so they can field a whole receiving corps.
Kentucky
This Kentucky season was the equivalent of a car losing control, skidding down the road, almost tipping over, and then just barely hanging on and straightening out. UK fans get to go to a bowl, they get to keep their coach, and they got to crush Louisville. What more could you ask?
LSU
Nothing can stop LSU, right, especially not Texas A&M as Jimbo Fisher, unfortunately, found out last week. All that’s standing in the way now is Georgia. And let’s be honest, LSU could decide not to even show up and they’ll be riding pretty into the Playoff, anyway. So just enjoy it while you can Tigers fans, because as you are well aware, the good times don’t always last long.
Mississippi State
A lot of things can be forgiven if you can just win the Egg Bowl. It’s a mantra that Joe Moorhead found out last week. In about a month he went from almost being forced to jump ship to Rutgers, to now being the longest-tenured SEC coach in the entire state of Mississippi.
Missouri
Mizzou hopped on the coaching carousel early last week and are in hot pursuit of someone who is anyone but Barry Odom. Sure, Mizzou might not pull in the sexy hire that Ole Miss and FSU are trying to get, but they just need someone to get them back to the basics of the Mizzou football we all know and love: quietly winning 9-10 games, ruining Florida’s season, and somehow inexplicably making it to the SEC Championship Game.
Ole Miss
Poor, poor, Ole Miss. Every pee joke in the world has already been made, but it’s just a shame that Matt Luke had to suffer the consequence and see his time as head coach get flushed. No pun intended. Now the Rebs are on full coaching search mode and their savior could be just around the corner. Or at least he would be if he didn’t just sign an extension to stay at Washington State.
South Carolina
Gamecocks fans have spent the week sadly looking out their window at all the fans having a great time on the coaching carousel. Maybe next year guys, if you’re lucky. In the meantime, there should be a ton of exciting bow games to watch on TV.
Texas A&M
Sure, that game against LSU didn’t go too well. But just remember, this year doesn’t count. It was just a warm-up year for next season. And of course last year didn’t count either, because that was just setting the groundwork for this season. But before anyone gets too down on the program, it’s important to remember the glory days when Jimbo was first hired and how amazing that was before he, you know, actually coached any games.
Tennessee
The Vols finally got the monkey off their back and defeated Vanderbilt. That might not sound like a big deal, but when you started the way the Vols did this year, it feels pretty good. Now, no matter what happens in the bowl game, the Vols can carry a ton of momentum into the offseason and hopefully can enter 2020 ready to compete with the big boys in the East. And if they’re lucky, maybe even Georgia State.
Vanderbilt
Do we really have to do this again next year?
Houston lives in Atlanta and covers SEC football for Saturday Down South. You can follow him on twitter @hbarber17 or reach out at hbarber17@gmail.com
