The South Carolina Gamecocks, Mississippi State, Kentucky Wildcats, and Arkansas Razorbacks were included in a group you really don't want to find yourself in during the 2025 season: the bottom-tier SEC ratings draws.
Per USA Today's Matt Hayes, "The only thing that matters is the SEC is still the undisputed king of television ratings. The Big Ten has made great strides catching its sister super-conference in some areas, but still trails dramatically in television ratings. The SEC had 12 of the top 23 most-watched teams in the regular season in 2025. The Big Ten had six. Only South Carolina, Mississippi State, Kentucky and Arkansas weren’t among the elite group of television draws."
That's bad news for every one of those four teams. Mississippi State is the most understandable, considering the Ole Miss Rebels enjoyed their best season ever, and the Bulldogs were in the midst of their third straight losing season. Hail State fans, by and large, worried about non-football-related things this past season.
Arkansas and Kentucky are the big-ticket teams in their state, though. The Razorbacks don't have another Power 4 team in the state, while the Louisville Cardinals, an ACC program, are the Wildcats' one in-state team that, truth be told, doesn't cut into their ratings much. The two Bluegrass State teams didn't play in the same timeslot besides their head-to-head matchup. Louisville won that game 41-0, which certainly didn't help the ratings much.
As for South Carolina, not being a ratings draw during LaNorris Sellers' projected big season is damning. Just like with the Cats and Cards, the timeslot excuse cannot be used for the Gamecocks and Clemson Tigers. Viewers simply weren't interested in South Carolina once they had four losses by mid-October.
Kentucky the likeliest to turn things around, but every SEC school should want better ratings
The tides will turn for these programs once they complete their turnarounds. Of the bunch, Kentucky looks like the most likely riser in 2026, with Will Stein's arrival potentially serving as a much-needed culture boost. The Wildcats fell just outside the top 10 in this past January's portal window class rankings.
Still, even with things looking up for several of these schools, you don't want to be in the out-group for SEC ratings-grabbers. As the sport continues to evolve, revenue is the most important thing in collegiate athletics.
Fail to attract a viewing audience, and you're guaranteed to take more financial losses than wins.