Alabama is Bruce Willis walking away in slow motion from the SEC exploding behind them.
— tommy tomlinson (@tommytomlinson) October 20, 2013
On Saturday, Arkansas lost to Alabama 52-0. That’s pretty bad. Last year, Arkansas also lost to Alabama 52-0. Which is also pretty bad.
But neither of those losses by themselves were as bad as both of those losses combined. Granted, Division I teams shut out other teams all the time by 50+ points. It’s very rare that the feat happens two years in a row, though. In fact, it’s so rare that it’s never happened before in the SEC.
Below are the worst back-to-back shutouts suffered by each current SEC team dating back to 1933, when the SEC began.
Arkansas
Score Opponent Year
0-52 Alabama 2013
0-52 Alabama 2012
Total point differential: 104
Kentucky
0-52 Tennessee 1994
0-48 Tennessee 1993
Total point differential: 100
South Carolina
0-39 Duke 1946
0-60 Duke 1945
Total point differential: 99
Missouri
0-62 Nebraska 1972
0-36 Nebraska 1971
Total point differential: 98
Vanderbilt
0-35 Ole Miss 1962
0-47 Ole Miss 1961
Total point differential: 82
Ole Miss
0-47 Tennessee 1938
0-32 Tennessee 1937
Total point differential: 79
Georgia
0-32 Tennessee 1937
0-46 Tennessee 1936
Total point differential: 78
Auburn
0-34 Clemson 1951
0-41 Clemson 1950
Total point differential: 75
Mississippi State
0-35 Alabama 1974
0-35 Alabama 1973
Total point differential: 70
Texas A&M
0-34 Arkansas 1966
0-31 Arkansas 1965
Total point differential: 65
Alabama
0-26 Auburn 1955
0-28 Auburn 1954
Total point differential: 54
Tennessee
0-30 Ole Miss 1964
0-20 Ole Miss 1963
Total point differential: 50
LSU
0-28 Tennessee 1940
0-20 Tennessee 1939
Total point differential: 48
Florida
0-23 LSU 1962
0-23 LSU 1961
Total point differential: 46
So, why has Alabama been able to own Arkansas in these last two years to an unprecedented degree? On the surface, there are obvious reasons: Alabama is bigger, stronger, deeper, more talented and likely better coached – but these factors also play out in practically every situation above. There are two things exaggerating the disparity here:
a) The Razorback coaches weren’t inspired to redeem their sorry butts from last year. Because, of course, almost all these current Hog coaches weren’t around for last year’s shellacking in Fayetteville. Bret Bielema, Jim Cheney and Charlie Partridge didn’t gameplan for Alabama this time with a bad taste left over from a 0-52 loss in 2012. John L. Smith, Paul Petrino and Paul Haynes experienced that. Perhaps if the same coaching staff had been in place for two straight years, the Hogs would have kicked a field goal at the end of the last game in Tuscaloosa instead of botching a fourth-down attempt in the red zone.
b) a) Alabama coach Nick Saban’s Spock-like pursuit of perfection. Since beating Texas A&M on September 14, Alabama has outscored its five opponents by a total of 201-16. He appears to have somehow trained his mind and many of his players’ minds to sublimate the very human urge to underestimate inferior opponents – which is bad news for weak opponents who looking for a moral victory. Saban may execute a “one-week-at-a-time” mindset better than any living college football coach. Alabama didn’t commit a penalty or turnover against Arkansas.
Maybe you, like me, are curious as what are the worst back-to-back losses suffered by SEC programs, regardless of shutout status. Maybe you, unlike me, don’t want to comb through dusty yearbooks with monocle and flashlight in order to find out what they are.
My friend, today, you are in luck:
Top Five Most Embarrassingly Bad Back-to-Back Losses Suffered by A Current SEC Member
1. Missouri
0-77 Oklahoma 1986
6-51 Oklahoma 1985
Total point differential: 122
2. Vanderbilt
0-65 Tennessee 1994
14-62 Tennessee 1993
Total point differential: 113
3. Vanderbilt
0-41 Alabama 1980
3-66 Alabama 1979
Total point differential: 104
4. Arkansas
0-52 Alabama 2013
0-52 Alabama 2012
Total point differential: 104
5. Missouri
7-51 Nebraska 1996
0-57 Nebraska 1995
Total point differential: 101
