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A discerning college football fan doesn’t need statistics to know that the SEC is the nation’s deepest and toughest conference. But the numbers do bear it out.
More than half of the league’s 14 teams (8) have posted .500 or better campaigns at least 70 percent of the time, and all have more of those seasons than losing ones in their history.
LSU has the league’s longest span without a losing season. The Tigers haven’t finished below .500 since a 3-8 mark in Gerry DiNardo’s final season in 1999.
Alabama tops the SEC charts with 107 .500 or better seasons, including three later impacted by vacated wins. The Crimson Tide has more 10-win seasons than losing ones, and only Oklahoma, Notre Dame and Ohio State boast a better percentage nationally.
Only two percentage points separate the rest of the top six, with Tennessee, Florida, LSU, Auburn and Georgia falling in behind Alabama.
Six-straight winning seasons in Starkville have pushed Mississippi State above the 50 percent mark, and only three SEC schools (LSU, Alabama and Texas A&M) boast longer streaks.
Here’s a look at each SEC school (seasons, records based on SEC Media Guide):
Team | Seasons | .500 or better seasons | Percentage | Last losing season** |
Alabama | 121 | 107* | 88.40 | 2006 |
Tennessee | 119 | 94 | 79.00 | 2013 |
Florida | 109 | 86 | 78.90 | 2013 |
LSU | 122 | 95 | 77.90 | 1999 |
Auburn | 123 | 95 | 77.20 | 2012 |
Georgia | 122 | 94 | 77.00 | 2010 |
Arkansas | 122 | 89 | 73.00 | 2013 |
Texas A&M | 121 | 85 | 70.20 | 2008 |
Missouri | 125 | 79 | 63.20 | 2015 |
Ole Miss | 121 | 76 | 62.80 | 2011 |
South Carolina | 122 | 70 | 57.40 | 2015 |
Vanderbilt | 126 | 68 | 54.00 | 2015 |
Kentucky | 125 | 66 | 52.80 | 2015 |
Mississippi State | 116 | 60 | 51.70 | 2009 |
* Includes 1993, 2006, 2007 seasons in which vacated wins dropped winning percentage below .500.
** Last losing season does not include vacated wins. Alabama, for instance, went 7-6 in 2007 but had five wins vacated. Its last losing season was 2006, when it went 6-7 before wins were vacated.
Randy Capps is a contributing writer for Saturday Down South. He covers SEC football, South Carolina and Georgia.