The 2024 SEC season has come to a close. It is time for a retrospective; the look back on the season is upon us. A retrospective is healthy. It forces one to look back to see the good and sometimes the opportunities to improve. Let’s look at some of the cold, hard facts of 2024. Somehow, The Ohio State and Ryan Day are national champions. The Big Ten has won back-to-back national championships for the first time in 60 years. Hats off to the Big Ten. They had a better year than the SEC. Let’s just say it stings, we have other words, colorful words. But our editors have warned us about keeping our articles a family-friendly read.
At Last Word, we have a growth mindset and don’t want to go too far in the negative… for now, we’ll save that for next week. Instead, we will take this week to explore some of the good things that happened in the 2024 SEC season and see how that could set the conference up for success as we put 2024 to bed and look ahead to 2025.
SEC Tailgate Talk: The Good of 2024
Young QBs Emerge
There was plenty of hype around the quarterback position into the 2024 SEC football season. Carson Beck, Jalen Milroe, and Jaxson Dart were the veterans. They were all over pre-season awards lists and were the favorites to see them in New York City to win the Heisman. Reality had other plans. None of the three would make it to New York. Only one of the three would lead their team to Atlanta for the SEC Championship and a spot in the College Football Playoff. To make matters worse, Milroe and Alabama basically forgot to show up for three quarters against Michigan in the Outback…ReliaQuest Bowl loss. Dart and Ole Miss blew the doors off a depleted Duke team in the Gator Bowl. While the veteran QBs disappointed or failed to meet our expectations during the 2024 SEC season, some young QBs emerged that showed promise for 2025.
Arch Manning (Texas)
We want Arch. The time is now for Manning in Austin. Quinn Ewers has announced his intention to enter the NFL Draft, allowing Red Shirt Sophomore to get his turn full-time. Manning was 2-0 as a starter, providing a change-up element for the Longhorns in 2024. His last name and big brand will make him an early favorite for a Heisman in 2025.
LaNoris Sellers (South Carolina)
Shane Beamer wasn’t happy at the end of the season, no we are not talking about his encounter with Bret Bielema. Beamer’s Gamecocks were one of the hottest teams to close the 2024 season, ending the season on a six-game winning streak after falling just short in Tuscaloosa. The reason for their success was Sellers, their big-time freshman quarterback. Whether running or passing, Sellers showed why the real snub in Columbia in 2024 wasn’t putting the Gamecocks in the playoffs but how good of a quarterback they had.
DJ Lagway (Florida)
Billy Napier will still be the head coach in 2025. Many (including this writer) didn’t think that was possible. Lagway had plenty of hype coming into the 2024 season and did enough to keep his coach and make Gator fans think they are finally on the right track.
Vandy Turnt Up
Pop quiz. What was Vanderbilt’s record in 2024? Don’t Google it (cheater). It was 6-6 followed by an impressive bowl victory to finish with a 7-6 record. That doesn’t seem right, though. Does it? Surely, the ‘Dores had to win like eight or nine games. We were all Vandy when they knocked off Alabama in Nashville. But, a quick look back shows that success and jubilation in Nashville is still a .500 record, The Plains could be so lucky.
Vanderbilt was one of the most fun teams to watch in the SEC, and it mostly had to do with their eclectic quarterback, Diego Pavia. Pavia transferred in the offseason (with his OC Jerry Kill and a handful of teammates) and they brought an edge to Vanderbilt that we had not seen under Clark Lea. Their option-based offense gave defense fits and is a big deal. The Tide had to settle for Tampa rather than hosting a home playoff game at Bryant Denny.
Pavia will return in 2025 after winning a lawsuit against the NCAA that granted him a sixth year of eligibility. The lawsuit challenged the NCAA’s rules regarding eligibility for athletes who played at junior colleges (JUCO). In response, the NCAA granted Pavia an additional year to compete and issued a waiver extending similar eligibility benefits to other student-athletes who attended non-NCAA institutions. Nashville will certainly be Turnt Up (his words, not mine) in 2025 for the ‘Dores.
It Just Means More: Disrespect
The SEC had won 13 of the last 17 national championships heading into 2024. The Big Ten and the rest of the North are dancing on the SEC’s graves. The SEC is overrated—their toast was the common narrative. Let’s face it, nobody believes in the SEC. They are now the hunter instead of the hunted. It stunk (I had a better word, but it was edited out) that they only got three teams in the College Football Playoff. It’s time for the players and the conference to embrace the hate and disrespect. Let it flow through them and go out and put it on the rest of college football in 2025. Let’s see five teams in the playoff and an all-SEC semifinal and championship and show the rest of the country why it just means more!
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