14) 2003 LSU 34 Georgia 13
Nick Saban’s first national championship run included a rematch with the Georgia team his Tigers had beaten six weeks earlier. Same teams, same result but with more devastation. Needing a huge win to overcome what appeared to be an insurmountable BCS point lead by Oklahoma, LSU “doubled down” and won. First, they smashed a pretty good Georgia team by the score of 34-13. Their bigger break came when Kansas State shocked the college football world by not only beating but massacring the Oklahoma Sooners and Heisman winner Jason White, 35-7 – in a game that wasn’t even that close. LSU went on to win the first national title by an SEC team in the new millennium.
13) 1993 Florida 28 Alabama 13
Can you win the SEC championship game and not even be the best team in the conference? Yes, you can. This game matched up two teams that the Auburn Tigers had beaten earlier in the year. Auburn, of course, was ineligible due to the Eric Ramsey sanctions. But the fact that the
sophomore version of the SEC title game featured opponents who had both lost to an undefeated team served to undercut the game’s popularity. It was further reduced because both teams were missing their starting QBs (Jay Barker and Danny Wuerrfel). It had zero implications other than SEC champion who got to face West Virginia in the Sugar Bowl. In the battle of the back-ups, Terry Dean easily prevailed. After leading the Tide to the end zone on the opening drive of the game, Brian Burgdorf and Company only scored two FGs.
12) 1996 Florida 45 Alabama 30
Of the seven times these 2 teams have met in the SECCG, the winner has gone on four times to win the national championship. Alabama prevailed in 1992 while Florida used this game a their stepping stone to the title. The implications of the game altered suddenly in the late afternoon when heavy underdog Texas stunned Nebraska in the inaugural Big XII title game. The Cornhuskers were two-time defending champions who had an opening thanks to the collapse of unbeaten Ohio State against Michigan. Although this was pre-BCS, this was a match-up of titans. 9-2 Alabama had only lost to Tennessee and MSU, both losses in the final minutes. Florida’s sole loss after spending much of the year at number one was to Florida State, 24-21, in Tallahassee. The final score of the game is deceptive on a couple of fronts. First, Florida had a 24-7 lead at on point prior to halftime. Freddie Kitchens hit a 94-yard TD pass, the longest scrimmage play in Alabama history, to spark the crowd and bring the Tide back into the game, trailing 24-21. The third quarter ended with the Gators only leading by 2 points, 30-28. At that point Danny Wuerffel showed why he had won the Heisman, with two back-breaking drives that relegated the Tide to the Outback Bowl and set up Florida in a rematch with Florida State. When Ohio State knocked off unbeaten Arizona State, the Gators needed only to beat the Noles which they did, convincingly.
11) 2004 Auburn 38 Tennessee 28
In a rematch a tad more exciting than their regular season meeting, “The Two Teams That Hate Alabama Most Bowl” was won by Auburn, who completed an unbeaten SEC slate en route to a 13-0 season.
10) 1999 Alabama 34 Florida 7
A look at the score by a twentysomething fan no doubt elicits two reactions: 1) how in the
world can you consider a four TD blowout one of the best games followed by; 2) this is just a case of your Alabama bias coming out, isn’t it?
No. It really isn’t. The 1999 game was a truly phenomenal game for about 50 of the 60 minutes. It was a rarity at the time, only the second rematch of two teams who had met in the regular season. And ABC television (who broadcast the SEC title game that year) executives were no doubt excited because it was a rematch of perhaps the most exciting game of the 1999 season when unranked Alabama ended Florida’s five-year home unbeaten streak in overtime. This game began just like that one, with Florida hitting a lightning quick TD and the Tide sitting on the ball and methodically running the clock. One of the more imaginative offensive games saw wide receiver Freddie Milons line up at quarterback and make a daring 77-yard dash for the game-breaking touchdown. Two plays later, defensive lineman Reggie Grimes intercepted a tipped ball and scampered in for another touchdown. Just like that, a 15-7 close game turned into a 28-7 Bama blowout. Nerves jangled for much of the game, and Tide fans coast to coast were thrilled to have beaten Steve Spurrier twice in the span of eight weeks.