All 14 SEC football programs statistically ranked by all-time greatness

Which college football program is historically the best of the SEC conference?

The most universally despised conference in all of college sports is undoubtedly SEC football. Although, along with the shared hatred from around the country comes a level of respect. Especially for the dominance of the conference over the last decade. But the SEC’s greatness as a whole stretches back a lot further than ten years. Since the dawn of college football it has been one of the best conferences in the nation. Ten of its 14 current members have been in the conference since 1932 — the conference was officially formed during the Great Depression in 1933. Since then, it has pulled members from the ACC, Big 12, and the Southwestern Conference to complete its current 14-team arrangement.

These 14 teams have amassed 39 National Championships, 247 bowl victories, and 13 Heisman Trophy winners. Of course some of these accomplishments occurred while teams were representing other conferences or even before the SEC existed. But, the SEC holds these programs and these programs’ histories now. It’s not hard to argue that the SEC is the greatest football conference in the country today, no one would have to rank conferences to find that out. Even historically a case could be made that it’s the best all-time. But what about the teams in the conference? How do those teams stack up against each other?

I have decided to take a stab at taking the mystery out of which SEC teams have been the best all-time. I used the following comprehensive point system to let the numbers state which programs have been the best — not just the opinions of the fans. Some fans forget about history and just remember success in recent years, while others desperately hold onto the past. This point system values the past and present equally, so this is a true indicator of how each SEC program compares to each other.

Point Breakdown:

National Championship: 16 Points
Conference Championship: 14 Points
Heisman Trophy Winner: 12 Points
Bowl Win: 10 Points
Bowl Loss: 8 Points
Consensus All-American: 2 Points
Regular Season Win: 1/4 Point

The entire history of all current SEC programs have been put through this point breakdown and all 14 programs have been ranked based on the numerical results. There is more to being a great program than just winning National Championships (although that is a major part of being great). Individual awards portray the greatness of a program. Total wins show the consistency of a program over their entire existence and conference championships show how a program has historically played against its peers — even if it was a different conference that was won prior to joining the SEC. I awarded points for bowl losses, too, because they represent good seasons that just didn’t end great. A bowl loss means that a team put together a successful season, but obviously a win is worth more.

How does your favorite SEC team stack up?