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It's fun to hate Lane Kiffin, but you have to admit that the guy has pushed the right buttons with the Alabama offense this year.
A great regular season for the Bulldogs ended on a sour note with a loss at rival Ole Miss.
Ugly loss to Arkansas aside, does anyone think this team is worse than Mizzou or Georgia? Not me.
The Dawgs lost to Georgia Tech to end the season, and they didn't win the SEC East, but I still feel this team is better than Mizzou on the basis of a strong head-to-head performance against Mizzou and Auburn. Mizzou simply lacks marquee victories of that nature. Georgia sure was inconsistent, though.
They benefited from a favorable schedule,but you have to give these folks credit for winning games down the stretch when many thought they'd eventually fall somewhere. Their prize for winning the SEC East? A shot at Alabama. I guess we'll see whether they're good enough to hang with the elite now that they finally get a chance.
Auburn looked to have 'Bama on its heels before a defensive collapse in the second half allowed the Tide to pull away.
7. LSU Tigers
The Tigers ended a disappointing season with a solid win over Texas A&M. Obviously 8-4 isn't good by LSU standards, but there's a lot of young talent on this team, which should be good next year.
After building a lot of momentum with wins over LSU and Ole Miss, the Hogs fell to Mizzou after building an early two-TD lead. This team still appears to be on the way up, though.
9. Texas A&M Aggies
Not the end to the season A&M fans hoped for after their hot start.
The Vols are back in the post-season after finishing 6-6 with their win over Vandy.
An era is over for South Carolina, which went down to rival Clemson for the first time since 2008.
12. Florida Gators
The Gators defense did what it could to keep the game against rival Florida State close, but inept offense and costly penalties brought the Will Muschamp era to a close with another loss.
The 'Cats did better than expected against Louisville but still missed out on bowl eligibility after a promising start to the season.
The 'Dores kept things respectable against Tennessee but still finished 0-8 in the SEC in Derek Mason's rookie season.