SEC Football Starts Bowl Season With Three Losses Against Group of 5 Schools

As the college football bowl season heats up, teams across the Southeastern Conference are struggling to earn wins this postseason. With Auburn suffering a 17–13 loss to Houston in the Birmingham Bowl on Tuesday, the SEC dropped to 0–3 and currently sits as one of two Power 5 conferences without a bowl win.

All three of the SEC's losses have come against Group of 5 institutions. Army defeated Missouri 24–22 in the Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl on Dec. 22. 

The next day, Central Florida knocked off Florida 29–17 in the Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl. With the Cougars' defeat of the Tigers, they secured the third 12-plus win season in school history. 

The SEC could earn its first victory this bowl season on Tuesday night when Mississippi State faces Texas Tech in the Liberty Bowl.

The Pac-12 (0-1 in bowl games) is the other league that has not yet won a bowl game. The Holiday Bowl, which was slated to feature UCLA vs NC State, was canceled due to COVID-19 protocols within the Bruins’ program.

The next opportunity for the Pac-12 to compete in a bowl game will be on Wednesday night when Oregon and Oklahoma square off in the Alamo Bowl.

The American Athletic Conference is currently 3–0 this bowl season, followed by the Mountain West at 4–1, the Sun Belt at 3–1, Conference USA (3–5) and MAC (2–5) among Group of 5 leagues. FBS Independents are 2–1 this month.