Who is the Best SEC Team of the Past 25 Years — Second Round Voting
We began our search to find the best SEC team of the past 25 years earlier this week with two play-in matchups, but now it's time to get the real conversation started with the second round.
When voting closed on the first round, 2007 Kentucky moved on with 79% of the vote over 2012 Vanderbilt and 2003 Ole Miss received 95% of the vote against 2012 Missouri.
Now it gets fun. There are some great head-to-head battles this round, including two teams that nearly made the SEC Championship Game a year ago. On the bottom half of the bracket, two of the conference's best quarterbacks square off.
Your vote will continue to decide which team advances. You have until Sunday night to vote as many times as you'd like. For those just joining us and wondering why some of these teams are in this bracket, each school was allowed to enter only its best team so that we could represent all 14 universities in this competition.
Let's get to the second round matchups:
(8) 2012 Texas A&M vs (9) 2012 South Carolina
2012 Texas A&M - In their inaugural season in the Southeastern Conference, the Texas A&M Aggies made a splash and then some. At media days, some questioned if the Aggies could win 6 games in the first season, but that was before Kevin Sumlin pulled an ace out from his sleeve in Johnny Manziel, and the rest, as they say, is history. Manziel would go on to have the best season in conference history dazzling spectators with his ability to improvise and make plays out of nothing, then frustrate opposing defenses by taking off downfield on a whim. Over 5000 yards of total offense and 47 touchdowns later, Manziel moved into icon status and Texas A&M as a legitimate player in the Southeastern Conference.
Highlighted by wins against Alabama and Oklahoma, the Aggies finished 11-2 in their first season. However, if the Texas A&M defense could have played better than 58th, perhaps they sneak past Florida and LSU and achieve the impossible in their first season in college football’s toughest conference.
2012 South Carolina - As a preseason top 10 team, the Gamecocks entered the season with hopes of an SEC Championship appearance. With Marcus Lattimore running the football and Jadeveon Clowney wreaking havoc on defense, South Carolina rushed out to a 6-0 start with a blowout win over eventual SEC East champion Georgia. Sitting at #3 in the nation, it would lose its next two games as well as losing Lattimore to a horrible knee injury.
The team would end the year on a high note, beating Clemson on the road and Michigan in the Outback Bowl before finishing #8 in the AP poll.
(5) 2003 LSU vs (12) 2007 Kentucky
2007 Kentucky - The Wildcats are usually not associated with football success, but in 2007 Rich Brooks found his share in Lexington. Momentum rolled at the start of the season with wins over 9th ranked Louisville and Arkansas, before tripping up against South Carolina. However, the following week would go down as one of the most thrilling games in Wildcats Football history. Quarterback Andre Woodson went toe-to-toe with the heralded LSU Tiger defense in a 3 OT thriller, eventually holding on just long enough to secure the 43-37 over top ranked LSU for the biggest win in Commonwealth Stadium history.
After that, the wheels started to fall off as Kentucky ended up on the wrong side of a 45-37 decision against #12 Florida and went 1-3 to finish out the rest of the regular season. After beating Florida State in the Music City Bowl 35-28, things seemed to be on the upward swing, but the Wildcats have yet to see success of 2007’s 8-5 season since.
2003 LSU - Our first national champion to make an appearance in this bracket, fans of the purple and gold might have expected a higher ranking for LSU. This team had seven players selected in the 2004 NFL Draft and were led by the all-star staff of Nick Saban (head coach), Jimbo Fisher (offensive coordinator), and Will Muschamp (defensive coordinator). The lone blemish for this squad came at home to Florida by a 19-7 score.
The BCS computers propelled the Tigers into the national championship game after an impressive 34-13 win over #5 Georgia in the SECCG. LSU claimed the conferences 2nd BCS championship with a 21-14 victory over Oklahoma in the Louisiana Superdome.
(7) 2011 Arkansas vs (10) 1999 Mississippi State
2011 Arkansas - If not for historically unlucky timing, this Razorbacks team might have been a national champion. Arkansas finished 11-2 in 2011 with its only two losses coming on the road to the two teams that played in the BCS NCG. They just so happened to also be in the same division.
Despite the unfortunate timing, Arkansas still beat four opponents ranked in the top 15, including a 29-16 win over Kansas State in the Cotton Bowl. The eleven-win season was only the program's third in 119 seasons of football, and final ranking of #5 was the highest since 1977.
1999 Mississippi State - Easily the best team the Bulldogs have fielded in the past 25 years, the Bulldogs held down the top ranked defense in the country en route to a 10-2 record overall, a standing that would place them 12th nationally.
The Bulldogs started off the season with an 8-0 record, however, nemisis Alabama stopped the streak midway through November with a 19-7 win over Mississippi State. The Bulldogs then slipped the following week with a close, 14-9, loss to Arkansas in Little Rock before taking the Egg Bowl over in-state rival Mississippi 5 days later. A month after the regular season came to a close Mississippi State capped off the year with a 17-7 win over Clemson in the Peach Bowl, however, still haunted by the 2 losses in the SEC West, allowing Alabama into the SEC title game. The standing was Mississippi’s highest ranking to finish the season in over 40 years.
(6) 2002 Georgia vs (11) 2003 Ole Miss
2002 Georgia - Mark Richt’s 2nd season at the helm in Athens went almost as well as one could hope. Highlighted by a multi-quarterback system featuring David Greene and DJ Shockley, the Bulldogs offense flourished as the duo would share snaps. On the ground, Musa Smith led the way with over 1300 yards rushing as Terrance Edwards caught everything in sight with 1000 yards and 11 touchdowns receiving. Defensively the likes of Boss Bailey, Sean Jones, and an up and comer by the name of David Pollack provided the Bulldogs all of the defensive firepower they needed as the unit ranked 4th in the country in scoring defense, allowing just over 15 points per game.
After starting off the season 8-0, Georgia slipped against rival Florida in Jacksonville. The loss would prove to be the lone blemish, and the loss that cost Mark Richt a chance at the national championship game. All however was not lost as Georgia defeated Arkansas for the SEC Championship and Florida State for the Sugar Bowl
2003 Ole Miss - This might have been the best Rebel squad since the John Vaught era in Oxford. Behind senior quarterback Eli Manning, the Rebels rolled to a 10-3 season that included wins over three ranked opponents – #24 Florida, #20 Arkansas, and #21 Oklahoma State in the Cotton Bowl. Ole Miss shutout in-state rival Mississippi State 31-0 in the Egg Bowl and ended the year ranked #13 in the AP Poll and #14 in the Coaches Poll.
Manning’s final year at Ole Miss ended 3,600 yards passing with 29 TD and 10 INT. The SEC named him the offensive player of the year, while he also won the Maxwell Award for national player of the year.
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