Being good is hard.

Over at Saturday Down South, Connor O’Gara takes a look at how SEC teams have done in the playoff era against teams that finish ranked inside the Associated Press Top 25.

• Alabama — 18-5 (.783)
• Georgia — 9-6 (.600)
• Ole Miss — 8-11 (.421)
• Auburn — 7-14 (.333)
• LSU — 6-12 (.333)
• Arkansas — 5-15 (.250)
• Florida — 4-12 (.250)
• Tennessee — 4-12 (.250)
• South Carolina — 4-12 (.250)
• Mississippi State — 3-12 (.200)
• Texas A&M — 2-14 (.125)
• Kentucky — 1-12 (.078)
• Mizzou — 0-10 (.000)
• Vanderbilt — 0-11 (.000)

If you’re looking for an answer as to why Gus Malzahn doesn’t get the respect Auburn fans think he deserves, there’s a good answer for you.

In the bigger picture, though, it turns out the SEC is fairly representative in that regard.

As it turns out, having a winning record vs. the final Top 25 is quite the accomplishment. I found that only 3 non-SEC programs (Clemson, Ohio State and Oklahoma) could claim that during the Playoff era.

I dug up the records vs. the final Top 25 for a bunch of other non-SEC programs (during the Playoff era):

• Ohio State — 14-4 (.778)
• Clemson — 14-6 (.700)
• Oklahoma — 10-7 (.589)
• Wisconsin — 8-9 (.471)
• Florida State — 7-8 (.467)
• Michigan State — 8-10 (.444)
• TCU — 6-8 (.429)
• Northwestern — 6-9 (.400)
• Stanford — 6-10 (.375)
• Notre Dame — 6-11 (.353)
• USC — 7-13 (.350)
• Oregon — 7-14 (.333)
• Penn State — 6-12 (.333)
• UCLA — 5-12 (.294)
• Oklahoma State — 4-10 (.290)
• Miami (FL) — 4-11 (.267)
• Virginia Tech — 2-7 (.222)
• Washington — 3-11 (.214)
• Texas — 2-14 (.125)
• Louisville — 1-10 (.090)
• West Virginia — 1-13 (.071)
• NC State — 0-9 (.000)

So much for sneering at Ohio State’s and Clemson’s schedules.

Or, to put it another way…

Also keep in mind that of the 192 FBS head coaches that coached for a minimum of 3 years from 2008-2017, just 37 (19%) had a winning record against teams with a winning record. Being good is hard.

— SportSourceAnalytics (@SportSourceA) July 5, 2018