SEC BUZZ

Alabama wins West

Alabama won the SEC West before taking the field Saturday night.

Ole Miss cracked No. 4 Mississippi State’s division-title dreams by defeating the Bulldogs 31-17 in the Egg Bowl, giving the Crimson Tide the West championship and another trip to the Georgia Dome.

No. 1 Alabama, which is 4-4 in SEC title games, will play East champ Missouri (10-2) at 4 p.m. Saturday.

The 17th-ranked Tigers, who will be the home team and wear dark jerseys, the SEC announced, won their second consecutive East title with a 21-14 victory over Arkansas on Friday.

Twelve teams a bowling

When Tennessee defeated Vanderbilt 24-17 on Saturday, it gave the SEC a conference record 12 bowl-eligible teams on a day when four teams lost to their ACC rivals.

Only Vanderbilt (3-9) and Kentucky (5-7), which lost its final six games, failed to qualify.

The SEC has 10 guaranteed bowl spots, including a spot in the College Football Playoff bowls (the semifinal games or Cotton, Fiesta and Chick-fil-A Peach bowls) and nine other bowls.

The others are the Citrus (formerly the Capital One), which has the first pick after the CFP. The others are the Outback, Music City, TaxSlayer (formerly Gator), Liberty, Texas, Belk, Birmingham and Independence bowls.

Numbers game

4 Florida's Austin Hardin, who played at Marist, made his first four field-goal attempts (later missing two) to keep the Gators close in their 24-19 loss to Florida State. That included a career-best 52-yard attempt.

80 Mississippi State became the first FBS team this season to allow two plays of at least 80 yards in more than one game. The Bulldogs gave up a 91-yard run and an 83-yard pass in the loss to Ole Miss, and allowed two plays of 80-plus yards in a win over UAB earlier this season.

He said it

"I told the guys, 6-6 might be what we are. Clemson was better than us. They played better and they coached better. Give those guys credit. They are better than us. They are a better team than we are. Simple as that." — South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier

"(We didn't make) a bowl game, but I still think this was a good season for us, improving three wins from last year. I do think that it was a good season for us, and we can only get better from this point forward." — Kentucky running back Stanley "Boom" Williams on Kentucky's 5-7 record

Standings

East; SEC; All

Missouri;7-1;10-2

Georgia;6-2;9-3

Florida;4-4;6-6

Tennessee;3-5;6-6

S. Carolina;3-5;6-6

Kentucky;2-6;5-7

Vanderbilt;0-8;3-9

West; SEC; All

Alabama;6-1;10-1

Miss. State;6-2;10-2