Biggest All-Time SEC Football Victory

Which game was the biggest all-time SEC football victory?

Most SEC fans consider the various rivalries between SEC teams to be the biggest games of the year. There's nothing bigger in Alabama then the annual Auburn - Alabama "Iron Bowl."

In Mississippi, it's the annual "Battle of the Golden Egg" between Ole Miss and Mississippi State. Every SEC school has similar great rivalries.

But this article is not about SEC Rivalry Games. This page is about the biggest all-time SEC football victory over a non-conference opponent. In fact, we actually list the top 5.

In each of these games, the SEC team came in underrated, as the underdog, and came out with a National Championship. Why is the SEC consistently underrated? Check out Florida Gators National Championship.

Anyway, here are our top five biggest all-time SEC football victories -- in history.

The 1996 Sugar Bowl (played in Jan '97) was a huge game for the Florida football program. The Gator football teams in 1995 and 1996 were Florida's best teams ever. The '95 team lost only one game. Unfortunately, that game was the Fiesta Bowl, where the Gators lost to Nebraska and thus failed to capture the National Championship. The '96 team again lost only one game. This time, though, it was during the regular season to cross-state rival, Florida State. However, Florida was lucky to have a couple other teams lose and got another shot at the '96 National Championship with a rematch against the Florida State Seminoles in the Sugar Bowl.

Led by its Heisman Trophy winning quarterback, Danny Wuerffel, the University of Florida won the 1996 College Football National Championship with a 52-20 blow-out of the Seminoles. This was the Gators first College Football National Championship. [Note, however, that some Gator fans argue they technically won the National Championship in 1984 due to being #1 in several final polls. However the majority opinion is that BYU won it that year because BYU ended up #1 in the AP.]

To read more about the 1996 Florida Gators, see Best All-Time SEC Football Team.

The 2003 LSU Tigers went 11-1, losing only to Florida during the season. They came into the Sugar Bowl, not having won a football national championship since 1958 (Billy Cannon era). LSU was the underdog to Oklahoma as the Sooners had five All-Americans (LSU only 1) and Oklahoma had been ranked #1 most of the season. LSU began the year ranked #15 and it was only losses by other teams that allowed them to get into the National Championship game. [In fact, many USC fans believed they should have been in the game instead of LSU. There was a split in the polls between LSU and USC; and a BCS controversy ensued.]

But, LSU proved they belonged, beating the Sooners 21-14 to win College Football's 2003 Bowl Championship Series (BCS) National Championship. LSU coach, Nick Saban was named "NCAA Coach of the Year." Incidentally, attendance at the 2004 Sugar Bowl was 79,342. That's still a record for the biggest crowd in Superdome history.

Alabama came into the January 93 Sugar Bowl as heavy underdogs to the top-ranked University of Miami Hurricanes. Alabama and the SEC felt disrespected as Bama was 13-0 coming into the game. So, why was Miami such a heavy favorite? The Tide proved the odds makers wrong as they spanked the Hurricanes 34-13. The Crimson Tide were led by quarterback Jay Barker and this victory gave them the 1992 NCAA College Football National Championship - the first (and last) for the Tide since Bear Bryant.

Do you remember all of the hoopla that surrounded the 2006 College Football National Championship game? Going into the game, the controversy mostly came from Michigan fans who thought

the Wolverines should have picked over Florida to get a rematch with Ohio State for the BCS Championship. Read more about that controversy at BCS Got it Right. Of course the Gators proved the critics wrong by demolishing the Buckeye's 41-14 (the game was not even as close as the score indicates).

Again, the SEC team was the underdog as Ohio State came into the game undefeated, with Heisman Trophy winner, Troy Smith as their quarterback. The game was particularly significant because as a result of the victory, the Gators become the first Division I school to hold National Titles in both football and basketball at the same time. To read more about this game check out Florida Gators.

The Fiesta Bowl, played on January 4, 1999, hosted the first Bowl Championship Series (BCS) game. So, this game ushered in a new era in college football. The idea was to have all polls recognize one champion -- and end the controversy over multiple polls naming different National Champs. (The controversy has not ended...)

Tennessee came into the game as the underdog. The Vols had lost Peyton Manning and several other stars from the '97 team to the NFL. So, not much was expected of the '98 Volunteers. But, Tennessee proved everyone wrong, by winning its first College Football National Championship since 1951 by beating the Seminoles 23-16.

For more about the 1998/1999 College Football BCS Championship game, read Biggest All-Time NCAA College Football Game.

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