With apologies to Ferris Bueller, life moves pretty fast. Especially in the SEC. One year you might be the undefeated BCS champion with a Heisman-winner behind center. The next, things might go so badly that fans starting calling for changes on the coaching staff. One year you might be a 2-10 joke that can do no better than hire an ACC unknown as your new head coach. The next, you might be going bowling with a Coach of the Year candidate at the helm.
In the uber-balanced SEC, fortunes can change quickly. The idea of a team winning consistently is almost laughable. And for all the talk of how dominant the SEC West is at the moment — and it is — it wasn’t that long ago that the conference’s might rested in the East.
Below you can see just how the power has shifted. For kicks, we wanted to see which programs have risen or fallen the most over the past four seasons. So we compared each program’s combined records from 2008 and 2009 to their combined records from 2010 and 2011. You can see the ’08-’09 combined standings first, followed by the ’10-’11 combined standings and, finally, the changes from one two-year period to the other. The results will be painful for some to look at, a joy for others. But no one should get too cocky or too depressed. Obviously, in the SEC, life moves pretty fast and changes do come quickly.
2008-2009 Combined
| EAST | OVERALL RECORD | SEC RECORD |
| Florida | 26-2 | 15-1 |
| Georgia | 18-8 | 10-6 |
| S. Carolina | 14-12 | 7-9 |
| Kentucky | 14-12 | 5-11 |
| Tennessee | 12-13 | 7-9 |
| Vanderbilt | 9-16 | 4-12 |
| WEST | OVERALL RECORD | SEC RECORD |
| Alabama | 26-2 | 16-0 |
| Ole Miss | 18-8 | 9-7 |
| LSU | 17-9 | 8-8 |
| Arkansas | 13-12 | 5-11 |
| Auburn | 13-12 | 5-11 |
| Miss. State | 9-15 | 5-11 |
2010-2011 Combined
| EAST | OVERALL RECORD | SEC RECORD |
| S. Carolina | 19-7 | 11-5 |
| Georgia | 16-9 | 10-6 |
| Florida | 14-11 | 7-9 |
| Kentucky | 11-14 | 4-12 |
| Tennessee | 11-14 | 4-12 |
| Vanderbilt | 8-16 | 3-13 |
| WEST | OVERALL RECORD | SEC RECORD |
| LSU | 23-2 | 14-2 |
| Alabama | 21-4 | 12-4 |
| Auburn | 21-5 | 12-4 |
| Arkansas | 20-5 | 12-4 |
| Miss. State | 15-10 | 6-10 |
| Ole Miss | 6-18 | 1-15 |
Changes From ’08-’09 to ’10-’11
| SCHOOL | CHANGE IN OVERALL RECORD | CHANGE IN SEC RECORD |
| Auburn | Up 7.5 games | Up 7 games |
| LSU | Up 7.5 games | Up 6 games |
| Arkansas | Up 7 games | Up 7 games |
| Miss. State | Up 5.5 games | Up 1 game |
| S. Carolina | Up 5 games | Up 4 games |
| Vanderbilt | Down .5 games | Down 1 game |
| Tennessee | Down 1 game | Down 3 games |
| Georgia | Down 1.5 games | No change |
| Kentucky | Down 2.5 games | Down 1 game |
| Alabama | Down 3.5 games | Down 4 games |
| Florida | Down 10.5 games | Down 8 games |
| Ole Miss | Down 11 games | Down 8 games |
