Roy Kramer's jitterbugging days are probably behind him, but you know the Southeastern Conference commissioner felt like boogeying after the Big 12 went haywire over the Thanksgiving weekend.

His league -- namely Florida, and perhaps Tennessee -- could be the big winner from the big losses by Nebraska and Oklahoma. A Rose Bowl berth is just about the Gators' to lose now in their final two games -- and if they lose it against the Volunteers Saturday, Tennessee might still have a chance to leapfrog past a couple other contenders into the title game.

The SEC's Best

MVP Grossman First Mississippi's Eli Manning took a run at it. Then Auburn's Damon Duval. Then Tennessee's Travis Stephens. But the guy who was there every week was Florida quarterback Rex Grossman. The best Steve Spurrier teams fly on the arm of a single signal caller, and sophomore Grossman killed off the usual quarterback melodrama by simply being becoming brilliantly immovable from the lineup. Grossman's Danny Wuerffel imitation was so lifelike that he might replicate him all the way to a Heisman Trophy acceptance speech and a national championship. Coach of the Year Tommy Tuberville, Auburn. True, the Tigers have had a pair of spectacularly ugly pratfalls, losing to Arkansas and Alabama by a combined 49 points. But Auburn still beat Florida when it was No. 1, and still leads a Western Division it was picked to finish fourth in. That's despite losing 2000 league MVP Rudi Johnson, quarterback Ben Leard, fullback Heath Evans and wide receiver Ronney Daniels. Nice work. Biggest Surprise Auburn, for all the reasons listed above, plus a stellar defense. (Alabama gouging excepted.) Biggest Disappointment Mississippi State wins that dubious award, and it isn't close. Not even rocking Ole Miss in the Thanksgiving Egg Bowl removes the sting of a 3-7 season, though taking out undefeated BYU Saturday would certainly make for a nice closing double dip. Many thought the Bulldogs had the best talent in the West but wound up in the cellar, even dropping one to Troy State during a five-game losing streak. The offense was a disaster, and the defense less dominant than usual. Expect staff shakeups in Starkville.

Thus a tumultuous season could still turn out pretty much the way it was scripted in August, even if it took a different route to the end result: Florida playing in Pasadena for the national title, Tennessee returning to the Top Ten, South Carolina and Georgia making the Top 25, Vanderbilt and Kentucky assuming the supine position.

And then there's the Western Division, which at least was predictable in its unpredictability. That division has been inscrutable for years, and this year was no exception. Auburn (a slight overachiever) and LSU (a slight underachiever) have scrambled out of the mosh pit to play for the division title Saturday, although nobody's sure how they got there.

In the end, the SEC benefits from the postponement of the Sept. 15 schedule -- a postponement it accepted with crass reluctance at the time -- more than any other. It now has winner-take-all games in each division on the final Saturday. Perfect theater that couldn't have been scripted in August, even if it played out just about according to plan.

Alabama
MVP: Whoever Takes Snaps. Most of the season that was Tyler Watts, whose option running sparked the Crimson Tide through the first half of the season. Later on it was Andrew Zow, the senior whose passing skills helped Alabama to late victories over Mississippi State and Auburn to keep bowl hopes alive. Watts produced nearly 1,900 yards of offense for the year, and Zow was a splendid 22 of 29 for 221 yards and two touchdowns against Auburn.

Biggest Disappointment: Fourth-quarter flameouts. Alabama lost leads in the final 15 minutes to UCLA, South Carolina, Ole Miss, Tennessee and LSU -- mostly because of a defense that couldn't force punts at key times.

Did You Know: Dennis Franchione's 5-5 record makes him the seventh straight Alabama coach to lose at least four games in his debut season -- and yes, that includes Bear Bryant, who went 5-4-1 in 1958. Average record of those seven debut seasons: 5-6. Between 1911-47, the six preceding coaches debuted with an average record of 7-2.

Arkansas
MVP: The training staff, which kept Arkansas together through seven overtimes in a 58-56, season-defining victory over Mississippi. It was only the longest game in college football history, and among the wildest.

Biggest Disappointment: The Razorbacks tried four other players at quarterback -- all in the first half of the first game -- before discovering the talents of true freshman Matt Jones midway through the season. Arkansas' offense was the worst in the nation after the first couple of games as Houston Nutt scoured the roster for a catalyst. Jones had no snaps in the first three games of the year, didn't throw a pass until the sixth game and still wound up with 867 yards of total offense -- highlighted by his heroics against Ole Miss. He might not have been ready at the beginning of the season, but neither was anyone else Nutt tried.

Did You Know: Only three SEC coaches will be working their fourth straight bowl game this postseason: Steve Spurrier, Phil Fulmer and Houston Nutt.

Auburn
MVP: Duval. The kicker was Mr. Clutch during Auburn's best stretch of the season, hitting last-minute field goals to win consecutive games against Auburn, Mississippi State and top-ranked Florida. All were from more than 40 yards out, too. Duval also was the No. 2 punter in the SEC, averaging 43.9 yards per kick, and was perfect on extra points (24 of 24). On a team with little margin for error, he often provided the margin of victory.

Biggest Disappointment: The no-show performance against Alabama. Not only was it a 24-point pasting from The Rival. Not only was it at home, where for the longest time Bama had refused to play. But the chance to clinch the West title was on the line as well. If you're only as good as your last game, Auburn can't wait to play Saturday.

Did You Know: The Tigers' 75-38-2 record over the last 10 seasons (including this one) trails only Florida and Tennessee among SEC teams.

Florida
MVP: Grossman. See league MVP.

Biggest Disappointment: The annual meltdown game against an underdog Western Division opponent. This year it was Auburn. The year before it was Mississippi State. In 1999 it was Alabama. In '97 it was LSU. It's just about the only thing keeping the league's Big Dog even a little bit humble.

Did You Know: Sophomore Grossman is about to become the SEC passing champion for the second straight season. Last Gators quarterback to accomplish that was Wuerffel, in 1995 and '96. Last before that was the Head Ballcoach himself in 1965-66. Both Wuerffel and Spurrier won the Heisman Trophy that second season.

Georgia
MVP: Running back Verron Haynes is the stealth choice over quarterback David Greene, based more on quality than quantity. The 223-pound senior caught the winning touchdown in Georgia's first win since 1980 in Knoxville, and then ran for a blockbuster 207 yards in Georgia's first win over Georgia Tech since 1997. Given that beating Florida is pretty much the impossible dream for the Bulldogs, those two wins rank 1-2 on Georgia fans' wish list. Haynes was a positive locker-room presence as well and filled a glaring need when tailback Musa Smith was injured and Jasper Sanks was dismissed from the team.

Biggest Disappointment: Rookie head coach Mark Richt's last-second play-calling meltdown in a seven-point loss to Auburn took some zest out of a season that has the Bulldogs pointed toward 8-3. That's pretty much a typical Jim Donnan record, which was just good enough to get him fired.

Did You Know: Haynes' 399 rushing yards in the Dogs' last two games, against Georgia Tech and Ole Miss, would have led the team in rushing last year for the entire season.

Kentucky
MVP: At 5-10 and 170 pounds and looking every bit like the scholarly bookworm he is, receiver Derek Abney is among the least-imposing players in the SEC. Then you see him play. The indestructible Abney ranks third in the SEC in receptions and second in all-purpose running, despite routinely taking major hits on catches and kick returns.

Biggest Disappointment: One play. The Cats were a play a way from beating LSU, a play away from beating Mississippi State, a play away from shocking Tennessee. They never got them -- especially not from a defense that showed little statistical improvement from the defensively indifferent Hal Mumme days.

Did You Know: Folks who follow recruiting have waited four years for former USA Today national Defensive Player of the Year Dennis Johnson to fulfill expectations. He quietly did this year, setting a Kentucky season record for sacks with 11. The redshirt junior leads the SEC in that category, tackles for loss (17) and forced fumbles (five).

LSU
MVP: He wears No. 25 and stands a blockish 5-11 and 200 pounds -- not exactly the Randy Moss prototype. But nobody has been able to keep Josh Reed covered all season. His 1,494 receiving yards are an SEC single-season record, with a game to go. He has 20 more catches and 400 more yards and his closest competitor in both categories, Florida's Jabar Gaffney.

Biggest Disappointment: Losses to Florida and Tennessee were more or less expected. The home loss to Mississippi, in which Eli Manning took over and dissected the LSU offense while Rohan Davey, Reed and LaBrandon Toefield could not answer, was less welcome. Death Valley doesn't carry the intimidation it once did, and that game proved it.

Did You Know: Four backs in SEC history have run for 18 or more touchdowns in a single season. The crew: Garrison Hearst, Shaun Alexander, Herschel Walker and now Toefield, who is sits on this illustrious list just one behind the league record of 19 co-held by Hearst and Alexander.

Mississippi
MVP: Eli Manning, maybe? All the latest in an unparalleled lineage of quarterbacks has done in his first year as a college starter is complete 64.1 percent of his passes for 2,662 yards, with 27 touchdowns and just six interceptions. His flair for fourth-quarter comebacks and ability to handle the demands of Being Eli Manning are even more impressive than the numbers.

Biggest Disappointment: After a blissful 6-1 start, the Rebels' undersized defense couldn't make any key stops against Arkansas, Georgia and Mississippi State. As a result, the record is now 6-4.

Did You Know: Just 1.63 percent of Manning's passes this season have been intercepted. That's the third-best season in the SEC books. The best belongs to big brother Peyton (1.05 percent).

Mississippi State
MVP: Running back Dicenzo Miller missed time and played hurt because of a chronically sprained ankle, but he gutted it out to produce 890 yards rushing and receiving. On a team with more than a few underperformers, Miller gave everything he had when he had it.

Biggest Disappointment: Four-year starting quarterback Wayne Madkin began the season being hailed by Jackie Sherrill as Jay Barker Lite, the stone-cold winner who quarterbacked Alabama's best teams of the 1990s. By season's end he had been benched in favor of Kevin Fant, having presided over a unit-wide failure to move the ball and score points. Madkin's quarterback rating in 2000 was 125.5. With a game to go this year it's 97.6.

Did You Know: How faint-hearted is Sherrill about throwing the football? Fant's good-but-not-outrageous 263 yards throwing against Mississippi were the most by a State quarterback in a single game in five years.

South Carolina
MVP: Pick a defensive player, any defensive player. Well, maybe not any, but feel free to choose between safety Rashad Faison (99 total tackles, 9.5 for loss) and linebacker Kalimba Edwards (79 total tackles, 3.5 for loss). The 6-6, 260-pound Edwards has pro scouts intrigued.

Biggest Disappointment: The Gamecocks welcomed Florida into Williams-Brice Stadium Nov. 10 with the East title on the line -- and were utterly strafed. Lou Holtz has brought the program miles in the past two seasons, but that game showed how far South Carolina still has to go to reach the top.

Did You Know: The Gamecocks have been in the league 10 years and have not yet produced an individual statistical leader in any offensive category.

Tennessee
MVP: The Volunteers' pound-the-rock offensive philosophy rested on the relatively small shoulders of 5-9, 190-pound running back Travis Stephens. He pounded it so effectively that he became the rock upon which a 9-1 record was built, at one time leading the nation in carries and ranking third in rushing yards per game. His productivity slipped a bit at the end of the year, but by then quarterback Casey Clausen had smoothed out and receiver Donte Stallworth had become healthy and established himself as a home-run threat. Stephens got the Vols' offense through to the point where the passing game caught up.

Biggest Disappointment: The Vols' soft defense allowed Georgia to fly down the field for the shocking winning score Oct. 6. A more aggressive approach -- or one more key play from the secondary or the pass rush -- and Tennessee would be undefeated and perhaps sitting in the No. 2 BCS spot currently occupied by Florida.

Did You Know: Barring unforeseen circumstance, Stephens -- not Travis Henry, not Jamal Lewis, not Jay Graham -- will be the first Volunteer to lead the SEC in rushing since 1990. Tony Thompson averaged 105.1 yards per game that season.

Vanderbilt
MVP: Long-suffering quarterback Greg Zolman stands ninth in SEC history in career passing yardage (7,695) and 12th in completions. This year he even reversed his career-long trend of throwing it frequently to the other guys instead of his teammates, passing for 11 touchdowns with only seven interceptions. Nice kid, smart, handsome, got a great future. He should be able to get over the trauma of four years as the Vandy QB fairly easily.

Biggest Disappointment: Scheduling Middle Tennessee State for the opener in the year Middle was ready to make something of itself. Woody Widenhofer might not have been cooked right then and there, but the caldron was reaching a rapid boil. The rest of the season simply served as confirmation of termination.

Did You Know: Vandy hasn't had a first-team selection to the coaches' All-SEC offensive team since 1991 - not even a pulling guard or a place kicker. The selection then was running back Corey Harris -- who now plays defense for the Baltimore Ravens. In that time Florida has had 23 first-team offensive players.

Pat Forde covers college football for the Louisville Courier-Journal.