SEC teams posted a 7-5 bowl record, with Georgia accounting for two of the victories to capture its second straight CFP national championship. In conference bowl wins, Alabama defeated Kansas State 45-20 in the Sugar, Arkansas defeated Kansas 55-53 in triple overtime in the Liberty, Georgia defeated Ohio State 42-41 in the Peach and TCU 65-7 in the CFP championship game, LSU defeated Purdue 63-7 in the Citrus, Mississippi State defeated Illinois 19-10 in the ReliaQuest and Tennessee defeated Clemson 31-14 in the Orange. In the league’s bowl setbacks, Florida lost to Oregon State 30-3 in the Las Vegas, Kentucky lost to Iowa 21-0 in the Music City, Missouri lost to Wake Forest 27-17 in the Gasparilla, Ole Miss lost to Texas Tech 42-25 in the Texas and South Carolina lost to Notre Dame 45-38 in the Gator. Ten numbers about the SEC’s bowl season:

0 Victories in five appearances for South Carolina in the Gator Bowl, tied for the most games by one program in one bowl without a victory. West Virginia has gone 0-5 in the Cheez-It Bowl and its predecessors. South Carolina’s latest Gator Bowl loss came on Dec. 30, when Notre Dame defeated the Gamecocks 45-38. Previously in the Gator Bowl, South Carolina lost to Wake Forest 26-14 on Jan. 1, 1946, in its first bowl appearance, Pittsburgh 37-9 on Dec. 29, 1980, Oklahoma State 21-14 on Dec. 28, 1984, and LSU 30-13 on Dec. 31, 1987.

4 Offensive MVP awards have been won in four CFP games by Georgia QB Stetson Bennett. On Monday night, Bennett capped his run by completing 18-of-25 passes for 304 yards with four TDs and no interceptions and running for 39 yards and two TDs on three carries in the CFP championship game as Georgia defeated TCU 65-7 to win its second straight national title. In the Peach Bowl semifinal on Dec. 31, Bennett completed 23-of-34 passes for 398 yards and three TDs – all with the Bulldogs trailing – and one interception and ran for one TD in a 42-41 victory over Ohio State. Last year, Bennett completed 20-of-30 passes for 313 yards with three TDs and no interceptions in a 34-11 victory over Michigan in the Orange Bowl and 17-of-26 passes for 224 yards with two TDs and no interceptions in a 33-18 victory over Alabama in the CFP championship game.

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5 TD passes by Alabama QB Bryce Young in a 45-20 victory over Kansas State in the Sugar Bowl on Dec. 31. Only one other player has more than four TD passes in a Sugar Bowl. Ohio State QB Justin Fields threw for six TDs in a 49-28 victory over Clemson on Jan. 1, 2021. Young tied the Crimson Tide bowl record for TD passes. Mac Jones had five in a 52-24 victory over Ohio State in the CFP championship game on Jan. 11, 2021. Young extended his streak of games with a TD pass to 27 and recorded his fifth five-TD performance during that streak. That allowed him to move one ahead of Tua Tagovailoa for the most games with at least five TD passes in school history, but Young didn’t reach his school record for career TD passes. Tagovailoa had 87 TD passes for the Tide. Young boosted his total to 80, which lifted him past AJ McCarron’s 77 into second place on the school list.

7 Days after LSU tied the bowl record for the largest margin of victory, Georgia broke it. The Bulldogs beat TCU 65-7 in the CFP championship game on Jan. 9 for the biggest point differential in bowl history at 58. LSU had beaten Purdue 63-7 in the Citrus Bowl on Jan. 2. The Tigers’ 56-point win tied Tulsa’s 63-7 victory over Bowling Green in Mobile’s GMAC Bowl on Jan. 6, 2008, and Army’s 70-14 victory over Houston in the Armed Forces Bowl on Dec. 22, 2018, for the most-lopsided bowls until Georgia’s win over TCU in the final game of the season.

9 Points were scored in the final four seconds of the Reliaquest Bowl by Mississippi State as the Bulldogs beat Illinois 19-10 on Jan. 2. The Bulldogs’ Massimo Biscardi kicked a 27-yard field goal to break a 10-10 tie with 27 seconds to play. Mississippi State CB Marcus Banks picked up Illinois’ fifth lateral on the final snap of the game and ran 60 yards for a TD to set the final score.

23 Yards on a TD pass from Kai Kroeger to Hunter Rogers in South Carolina’s 45-38 loss to Notre Dame in the Gator Bowl on Dec. 30. Kroger is the Gamecocks’ punter and Rogers is the long snapper. The trick play allowed South Carolina to take a 14-7 lead with 2:27 left in the first quarter. Kroeger went 4-of-4 passing for 107 yards with two TDs and no interceptions this season to bring his career totals to 6-of-6 for 173 yards with three TDs and no interceptions.

37 Seconds remained in the Las Vegas Bowl when Florida’s Adam Mihalek kicked a 40-yard field goal for the Gators’ only points in a 30-3 loss to Oregon State on Dec. 17. The field goal prevented Florida from being shut out for the first time since Oct. 29, 1988, when Auburn defeated the Gators 16-0. Since that game, Florida has gone 436 contests without being shut out, the longest scoring streak in major-college football history by 54 games and the longest in SEC history by 77 games.

99 And 100-yard interception returns were turned in by SEC players during the bowl season. LSU CB Quad Wilson picked off Purdue QB Jack Albers and ran it back 99 yards for a TD with 40 seconds remaining in the Tigers’ 63-7 victory over the Boilermakers in the Citrus Bowl on Jan. 2. South Carolina CB O’Donnell Fortune picked off Notre Dame QB Tyler Buchner and returned it 100 yards for a TD in the Gator Bowl on Dec. 30. Fortune’s TD allowed the Gamecocks to tie the score with 7:42 to play, but the Fighting Irish got the final points to win 45-38. Fortune had the 23rd interception return of 100 yards by an SEC player.

163 yards on nine receptions for LSU WR Malik Nabers in a 63-7 victory over Purdue in the Citrus Bowl on Jan. 2. Nabers led six SEC players who had 100-yard receiving games in the bowl season. Like Nabers, each of those other players – Arkansas’ Matt Landers, Georgia’s Brock Bowers and Arian Smith, Ole Miss’ Malik Heath and Tennessee’s Squirrel White – caught one TD pass, but Nabers was the only one who also threw a TD pass. Nabers threw a 5-yard TD pass to QB Jayden Daniels with 9:21 left in the third quarter. That came after Nabers had completed a 45-yarder to WR Kyren Lacey. After throwing to Daniels for a TD, Nabers scored LSU’s next TD on a 75-yard reception.

391 Yards amounted to the combined net output of the offenses of Kentucky and Iowa in the Music City Bowl on Dec. 31. Iowa won 21-0 even though the Hawkeyes went 0-for-11 on third down and 0-for-2 on fourth down. Kentucky converted two of its 18 third-down snaps, although the Wildcats were 3-for-5 on fourth down. Each team had 10 first downs in the Music City Bowl, contrasting with the Texas Bowl in which each team had 27 in Texas Tech’s 42-25 victory over Ole Miss on Dec. 28. The teams went for it 13 times on fourth down in the Texas Bowl, with the Red Raiders going 5-for-6 and the Rebels 2-for-7. Ole Miss and Texas Tech combined for 1,042 yards, with the Rebels’ 558 their highest output in their 40 bowl appearances.

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.