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College Football

Is your SEC institution a football, baseball or basketball school in 2015-16?

Chris Wuensch

By Chris Wuensch

Published:

Believe it or not, football fans, they actually play other sports in the SEC.

The SEC has just two teams in this week’s Associated Press’ basketball poll, and another seven are in Baseball America’s current Top 25. That includes the top two: Florida and Texas A&M in that order.

Here’s a look at each SEC school and which of the three sports dominates the campus this season.

ALABAMA: FOOTBALL

The Alabama baseball team is ranked No. 22 in the Collegiate Baseball poll, while the Crimson Tide’s basketball squad is a respectable 17-12 in a sport where 20 wins is traditionally a benchmark for consideration for the NCAA tournament.

But campus belongs to the national-title winning Tide football team, which won its fourth championship in the past seven years in 2015 behind its Heisman-winning running back in Derrick Henry and one of the staunchest defenses of the Nick Saban era in Tuscaloosa.

ARKANSAS: FOOTBALL

Arkansas won a basketball national championship in 1993-94 under Nolan Richardson but has returned to the NCAA Tournament just four times since he left after the 2001-02 season. This season the Razorbacks are 16-14 (9-8 SEC).

The debate over which team is better this season — baseball or football — should be an interesting one, and might not be determined until the end of the hardball season.

Arkansas’ football team finished fast, winning seven of its final nine games, including a bowl game.

The baseball team is ranked No. 17 and a projected No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament, according to Baseball America.

AUBURN: BASEBALL

If Bo Jackson was really great, he’d have also played basketball at Auburn. We say that facetiously, but could you imagine a Tigers hoops squad that featured the legendary two-sport athlete and the “Round Mound of Rebound” himself Charles Barkley, who attended Auburn at the same time?

For as rich as the Auburn’s athletic history is, the Tigers are in line, as of right now, to pull off a rare trifecta and finish last in the SEC West in baseball, basketball and football.

Bruce Pearl hasn’t quite rekindled the SEC magic he had leading Tennessee’s basketball team between 2005 and 2011, as his squad sits at 11-18 (5-12 SEC).

It’s still early in the baseball season, but Auburn doesn’t appear to have the next Bo or Frank Thomas waiting in the wings. In fact, as perhaps a sign of the times, the 5-4 Tigers recently suspended two players for a violation of team rules, including opening day starter Cole Lipscomb.

That said, the baseball team has the best chance of eclipsing the paltry .538 winning percentage of the 2015-16 Auburn football team and thusly give the Tigers their best shot at avoiding the last-place triumvirate.

FLORIDA: BASEBALL

Billy Donovan won two NCAA championships, but he’s now coaching Kevin Durant in the NBA, and the current Gators aren’t a lock to make the NCAA Tournament.

This is a battle between the SEC East-champion Florida football team versus the Gators’ baseball squad, which sits at No. 1 in the nation.

The football team sputtered down the stretch after losing the equivalent of its No. 1 starting pitcher in Will Grier.

The baseball team has been to Omaha nine times but still is trying to win its first College World Series title.

GEORGIA: FOOTBALL

Quick trivia: Which of the three programs most recently won an NCAA title?

That would be baseball, in 1990, 10 years after Herschel Walker led the Dawgs to a national championship in football.

Georgia’s 2015 football season ended unconventionally with the mutual departure of a coach who won .740 percent of his games over 15 seasons in Athens, including nine victories this year.

Still, the football team trumps the school’s hoops and baseball squads this year, as the two latter teams toil around the middle of the SEC slightly above .500.

Perhaps if the school allowed basketball head coach Mark Fox to use the company helicopter on the recruiting trail, the Bulldogs could infiltrate the Associated Press ranking more than just once (No. 24 in 2010-11) in the past 13 years.

KENTUCKY: BASKETBALL

Kentucky hoops is Alabama football.

Even when the Wildcats hoops squad is having a down year (for them), John Calipari’s program is still better than most other schools in the nation. Currently ranked No. 22, Kentucky can’t be counted out come tourney time.

Kentucky’s baseball team sits in the SEC East basement (4-3), and while it’s still early, the Wildcats are going to have a tough time in a stacked SEC East division.

The football team limped to a bowl-less season after a 4-1 start to the year.

LSU: BASEBALL

Football gets all the glory in Death Valley, but the LSU baseball team — six national titles since 1991 — is consistently one of the most-decorated in the SEC. They’re ranked No. 7 this week and a threat to make it back to Omaha after going 1-2 in the College World Series last year.

The football team finished on a high note, carrying Les Miles out on their shoulders at the end of the regular season and trouncing Texas Tech in the Texas Bowl, but didn’t meet preseason expectations.

LSU’s basketball team has the nation’s top player in Ben Simmons, arguably the program’s best since Shaquille O’Neal squeezed his massive frame into a Tigers’ jersey. But the Tigers are on the NCAA Tournament bubble.

MISSISSIPPI STATE: BASEBALL

Can Dak Prescott play basketball, as well? Can the legendary Mississippi State quarterback also pitch? The Bulldogs basketball team is 13-16 (6-11) on the year, leaving the debate between the school’s baseball and football teams as to who owns Starkville this year. While football finished with a respectable 9 wins and a Belk Bowl-victory over NC State, the Bulldogs best shot at glory this season might be with its No. 20-ranked baseball team.

MISSOURI: BASEBALL

It’s tough to believe, but the Missouri football team actually has more road wins this year than the school’s basketball squad. Make that win.

As much as the Tigers’ football team struggled, limping to a 5-7 record and winning just once on the road, the hoops in Columbia is equal parts difficult to watch at 10-20 (3-14 SEC).

That means the baseball team is tops at Mizzou, almost by default. Fortunately, the Tigers can compete on the diamond, jumping out to an 8-2 record in their first 10 games.

OLE MISS REBELS: FOOTBALL

The Ole Miss basketball team (19-11) is on pace for its most wins since posting 27 victories during the 2012-13 campaign — in which they lost in the third round of the NCAA tourney to La Salle.

The Rebels are also highly-proficient on the diamond, starting 7-1 and being ranked No. 13.

But football reigns supreme in Oxford this year, thanks to the emergence of quarterback Chad Kelly and an Ole Miss team that was, essentially, a freak play against Arkansas from landing a spot in the coveted College Football Playoff.

SOUTH CAROLINA: BASEBALL

The Gamecocks’ basketball team is making in-roads in its quest to shed its reputation as NIT darlings (2005 and 2006 champs) and make its first trip to the dance since losing in the Round of 64 to Memphis in 2004.

South Carolina is also hoping this is the year they earn their first NCAA Tournament win since 1973.

The football team’s struggles last season have been well-documented.

The baseball team, which won CWS titles in 2010 and 2011, entered this weekend’s showdown against Clemson with an 9-0 record and No. 15 ranking, according to the NCAA polls.

Brandon McIlwain, who will compete for South Carolina’s quarterback job, was hitless in his first five at-bats for the baseball team.

TENNESSEE: FOOTBALL

Setting Tennessee’s recent off-the-field issues aside and concentrating solely on the Vols’ performance on the field, the football team is tops on campus this season.

Tennessee won its final six games, including its bowl game.

The baseball team started 7-1 start in non-conference play, while the hoops team has slipped to 13-17 and appears destined to miss-out on March Madness during Rick Barnes’ first year as head coach.

TEXAS A&M: BASKETBALL

Texas A&M can boast one of the more well-rounded athletic programs in the nation this season, as its baseball, basketball and football squads all made appearances inside the national rankings.

The Aggies’ basketball team leads the SEC with a 23-7 (12-5) record and is one of just two conference programs ranked in the AP poll at No. 20 … two spots ahead of Kentucky.

The baseball team could make it interesting. They are ranked No. 2 in Baseball America’s poll, poised to challenge for their sixth College World Series trip and first since 2011.

VANDERBILT: BASEBALL

Josh Henderson has one of the shots of the year in the SEC, but Vanderbilt is very much a baseball school.

And this year is no different.

While the basketball team is a No. 9 seed as of March 4, according to ESPN analyst Joe Lunardi’s most-recently mock bracket, the baseball team has lost just once in their first 10 games and is No. 5 in Baseball America’s poll.

Vandy’s football team has considerable work to do to catch up.

Chris Wuensch

Chris Wuensch is a contributing writer for Saturday Down South. He covers South Carolina and Tennessee.

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