Four Downs: Florida keeps SEC East perfect with Birmingham Bowl win

Updated JAN 03, 2015 5:19p ET

Going inside Florida's 28-20 win over East Carolina in the Birmingham Bowl.

The Birmingham Bowl doesn't have the mystique of some of the SEC's other bowl destinations, but it provided one of the league's more resounding statements of this postseason:

The East has the last laugh.

The division hasn't won a conference title since Tim Tebow and Florida did so in 2008 and this season, while the West was being touted as the deepest division in the nation with Alabama, Mississippi State and Auburn all at one time or another in the playoff mix, the East was in shambles. Underscoring it all, Missouri, the team it sent as its representative to Atlanta for the conference title game, was shutout 34-0 by second-place Georgia and lost to Indiana, which would go 1-7 in the Big Ten.

All that being said, the West went 2-5 in bowl games -- only Texas A&M (Liberty Bowl vs. West Virginia) and Arkansas (Texas Bowl vs. Texas) won -- including top-ranked Alabama's loss to Ohio State in the Sugar Bowl national semifinal. The East, meanwhile, improved to 5-0 after the Gators' win over East Carolina.

To review the East's wins, No. 13 Georgia beat No. 21 Louisville in the Belk Bowl; No. 16 Missouri topped No. 25 Minnesota in the Citrus Bowl; South Carolina edged Miami in the Independence Bowl; and Tennessee downed Iowa in the TaxSlayer Bowl.

Chances are this isn't going to alter the landscape in the SEC, but the East can at least go into the recruiting season with some unexpected ammo.

Among the few bright spots on this Gators team was Vernon Hargreaves III, the sophomore cornerback who was named a second-team All-American after totaling 42 tackles, two interceptions and a team-high 12 pass breakups.

But he had a daunting task ahead of him at Legion Field vs. Pirates wide receiver Justin Hardy, the NCAA's all-time receptions leader.

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Four Downs: Florida keeps SEC East perfect with Birmingham Bowl win