College football world reacts to SEC's disastrous bowl game record

The most persistent dialogue around college football throughout the year, especially during bowl season, centers on which conference runs the sport.

The Big Ten has won the last two championships, but a current SEC program has won the championship in 16 of the 25 seasons since 2000. With that said, the gap between the SEC and other college football conferences has seemingly shrunk thanks to the evolution of NIL and the transfer portal.

Non-traditional programs such as Indiana and Texas Tech have risen from mid- to low-tier status to national powers, and the SEC's case for being the best conference in the sport continues to dwindle, as we have seen this bowl season.

Including the opening round of the College Football Playoff, the SEC has strung together a 2-5 record in its bowl games. To make matters worse, the SEC is 0-4 against other Power 4 opponents. A couple of stats that fans around college football are certainly mocking the once-dominant conference for.

The SEC is just 2-5 in bowl games this season.

They are 0-4 against P4 conference teams. pic.twitter.com/xAgtAJEOH6
— Underdog (@Underdog) December 31, 2025

"And Big 10 is 6-0. Pretty clear who the best conference is," wrote one fan.

"Yeah but they’re 5-0 in hypotheticals," joked a second.

"There’s opts outs of course but at some point you can’t ignore it as the sample size grows," suggested a third.

"Ok. Can we finally stop pretending that things that happened 15-20 years ago still matter," requested another.

"It just means more…losses," quipped another.

"The SEC had a good run," said one fan.

A view of the field and the SEC logo and CFP logo during the game between the Aggies and the Hurricanes at Kyle Field. | Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

The latest loss came on Tuesday, as Tennessee fell to Illinois 30-28 in the Music City Bowl. The Vols were joined by the Texas A&M Aggies, who lost 10-3 against Miami in the opening round of the playoff. Missouri also lost in an underwhelming showing against Virginia, losing 13-7. LSU lost to Houston 38-35, with new head coach Lane Kiffin in attendance, until he wasn't.

The lone wins were Alabama beating fellow SEC team Oklahoma in the first round of the playoff, and Ole Miss knocking off Tulane in the playoff as well.

There won't be much sympathy out there for the SEC as every program in the country is dealing with opt-outs and transfer portal departures, but the conference does have a few more chances to improve its record. There are three more non-playoff bowls to be played, and the conference can have as many as two teams advance to the semifinal round of the College Football Playoff.

Unless they can win out the rest of the non-playoff games and have a team win a championship, it appears college football fans will be more than happy to dance on their grave.