The Best SEC Schools in Football Over the Last 20 Years

I once had big intentions with this article. I was going to determine who had the best athletic program success in the big 3 sports (football, basketball and baseball). I started this in February. Five months later I still can't bring myself to finish it....just too time consuming. Maybe one day someone will finish what I could not. But I thought why not just post what I have about football since that is coming up.

There are schools who have excelled in primarily one sport over their history whether it be football (Georgia, Nebraska, Auburn), basketball (North Carolina, Kentucky, Indiana) or baseball (Arizona State, Mississippi State, Cal State Fullerton). But what about those who have excelled in all three? I'd like to know - how do SEC schools stack up when figuring all three sports?

To do this, I'd prefer to look at recent times - so I'm just using the past 20 years. So that means I'm starting with the 1992-93 school year and ending with the 2011-12 year.

I've devised a point system for determining these rankings. Keep in mind that this is viewing all three sports as equal as that is the point of this post. Here is how the point system works:

Adding numbers from any of the following accomplished -

• Points for your overall SEC regular season finish. The years included here are all the years in which the league had exactly 12 teams, so you get 12 points for 1st place, 11 for 2nd place...all the way down to 1 point for last place. I am not giving 0 points for probation because they did actually play the games and they'll be penalized in the postseason points tally anyway.
• 5 points for being runner up in the SEC Tournament (baseball & basketball) or SEC Championship Game (football).
• 10 points for winning the SEC Tournament or SEC Championship Game.
• 4 points for a bowl game loss, NIT appearance, or making a Regional.
• 8 points for a bowl game win/BCS game loss, making NCAA Tournament, or hosting a Regional.
• 12 points for BCS bowl game win, Sweet 16 appearance, or Super Regional.
• 16 points for being national championship runner-up in football, Final Four, or College World Series.
• 20 points for a national championship.

Alright, let's get started with football since that's what happens first on the school calendar.

Football totals (points)

1. Florida, 476
2. Alabama, 361
3. LSU, 357
4. Tennessee, 335
5. Georgia, 328
6. Auburn, 304
7. Arkansas, 212
8. South Carolina, 176
9. Ole Miss, 169
10. Mississippi State, 153
11. Kentucky, 118
12. Vanderbilt, 63

That is pretty much how you'd expect it to be with the power six schools well out in front, although I was a little shocked by Florida's lead over Bama.

Now basketball...

Basketball Totals

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Now baseball...

Baseball Totals

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