Strange: Nothing has changed in SEC's penthouse

A year ago this week, one SEC school was introducing a new football coach. Two others were getting started searching for one.

Fast forward, past signing day, media day and opening day:

Come Saturday, Florida and Alabama will reprise their 2008 SEC championship game appearance in the Georgia Dome. Nothing changed at the top.

So how did everybody else do down below?

Ten of 12 teams are awaiting bowl assignments. I saw Tennessee projected in three different bowls Sunday and the rest of the picture is just as scrambled.

To see why, take a look at the SEC standings.

Only three teams - Florida, Alabama and LSU - finished with a winning SEC record. That has happened only once, 1993, since the league schedule expanded to eight games.

Three teams are 4-4. Five are 3-5. You might call that parity. You might call it mediocrity.

Or, it might just be the gap between Alabama and Florida and everyone else. If two teams are 8-0, somebody's got to be losing games.

Seven teams improved by at least one SEC win over 2008. Alabama stayed perfectly even at a perfect 8-0. Four teams lost ground.

I was surprised to find the team that improved the most, a two-game swing from 3-5 to 5-3, was none other than LSU. Would anyone out there vote LSU as the most improved team?

As for the three new coaches, all recorded modest improvement.

Tennessee went from 5-7 to 7-5 under Lane Kiffin's direction. In SEC play, the Vols were 4-4, a game better than in 2008. Neither of the other new guys managed a fourth SEC win.

Gene Chizik took Auburn from 5-7 to 7-5. In SEC play, the Tigers also were a game better, 3-5, after going 2-6 in 2008.

More common ground, both Kiffin and Chizik came very close to ruining Alabama's perfect season.

But on Oct. 3, Auburn was decidedly better than Tennessee, more so than the 26-22 score would indicate.

Mississippi State improved one game, from 4-8 to 5-7, under Dan Mullen and also was one game better in the SEC standings.

However, nobody finished with a bigger win than Mullen's Bulldogs. Spanking Ole Miss in the Egg Bowl is worth a couple of wins inside the state borders.

Kiffin, Chizik and Mullen all were hired with the mission to upgrade hard-to-watch offenses. All three get a thumbs-up.

In 2008, Auburn beat Mississippi State 3-2. They won again this year, but the score was 49-24.

Last year Tennessee scored a combined 20 points in losses to SEC East rivals Georgia and South Carolina. This year the Vols scored 76 while beating both.

Auburn improved its scoring average by 16 points a game. Tennessee jumped 13.3 points a game to 30.6. Mississippi State enjoyed a 10.4-point bump.

In total offense, Auburn and UT were within a first down of each other for the most improvement.

Auburn gained 129 yards more per game than in 2008. The Vols' offense jumped by 126 yards a game from that awful season under offensive coordinator Dave Clawson.

Mississippi State improved 97 yards a game.

For what it's worth, all three programs took minor statistical steps backward on defense.

UT fans can live with that. The defining defensive impression of 2009 doesn't involve Dexter McCluster. It's keeping the Florida and Alabama games competitive.

For Mullen and the Bulldogs, the bar is as high as its going to go for 2009. Kiffin and Chizik still have a shot to reach for more.

That's something neither Tennessee nor Auburn could say this time a year ago.

Mike Strange may be reached at strangem@knoxnews.com or 865-342-6276.

© 2009, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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