SEC not so bad after all

Until the last week in December, this had been a down year for SEC football.

Georgia was a preseason No. 1 and fell flat. LSU had reached as high as No. 2 and then flamed out at the end of the regular season. As bad as those two disappointments were at least Mark Richt and Les Miles kept their jobs. Phil Fulmer at Tennessee and Tommy Tuberville at Auburn weren't so lucky.

No, this was a down year for the SEC -- at least when it came to national perception.

Then, a funny thing happened, the bowls started. With a month off, teams got healty and rested and refreshed mentally and, what do you know, the SEC wasn't so bad after all this year.

The conference went 6-2 in bowl games.

The embarrassment of Alabama getting rolled by Utah in the Sugar Bowl was offset by Florida defeating Oklahoma in the national championship game.

All of the talk of the Big 12 being the best conference was just that -- talk.

Head-to-head, the SEC was 2-0 with Ole Miss romping over Texas Tech in the Cotton Bowl.

So maybe it wasn't such a down year after all in the SEC.