After the Southeastern Conference had won so many national football championships in a row, they were called the gorillas of the collegiate grid-iron, the indisputably best collection of teams in the U.S. Then of course, that then attracted the ire and jealousy of all the other conferences as well as quite a few of the sports media.
The SEC won the football national championship every year for seven years beginning in 2004. Florida won it in '06 with LSU winning in '07 followed by Florida again in '08. Alabama won three out of four in the 2009-2012 years with Auburn taking the 2011 title. In 2013, the SEC lost the national championship when Auburn, who had made the final game, lost to Florida State for the title in a close battle. Last season, Alabama was upset in the semi-finals to make it two years in a row that the SEC didn't take the top spot in the final NCAA poll.
A lot of sports people were "analyzing" the demise of the sports most powerful league, an exercise in silliness if one would consider the amount data that is easily accessible. The most important evidence to me of the SEC's dominance is the number of teams that get ranked in the NCAA's top 25 every year.
Last year, all but two teams were ranked sometime in the top 25 during the year and, incredibly, five different schools have held the No. 1 ranking in the past three years. The results of the just completed bowl season would serve to indicate how deep the conference is.
The SEC got 10 teams into the bowl game mix, with eight of them coming away with trophies as well as a considerable amount of TV money to go into conference coffers. Only Florida and Texas A&M lost, and only Florida was beaten badly.
After staying within striking difference of the University of Arkansas for most of the Liberty Bowl game, Kansas State was shut out the final period with the Razorbacks scoring two touchdowns, and went into a victory formation near the Wildcat goal line in the game's final couple of minutes as the U of A won 45-23.
Later that day, the Hogs got a victory over the Georgia when the Bulldogs' prize recruit Devwah Whaley, one of the nation's top running backs, broke his commitment to go Georgia and instead to go to Arkansas. The 209-pound 6-foot-tall Beaumont, Texas, athlete was going to Georgia until they fired head coach Mark Richt. If Alex Collins, the Hogs' All-Star running back, leaves early for the pros, the Razorbacks may be alright with Rawleigh Williams returning as well as their newest Hog.
Elsewhere in bowl competition
Elsewhere in the bowl competition, Georgia got the Tax Slayer Bowl win over Penn State with a team led by an interim coach. I think with their loss of Richt and their counted on running back, the 'Dogs won't fare as well in 2016. Richt won a lot of games for the Bulldogs, well more than he lost with most of his teams highly ranked, but he failed to win the key games, kind of like the Ken Hatfield situation here at Arkansas some years back. Hatfield had and has the best record of any Razorback coach in history but was run off by the athletic director and important boosters because he didn't win all the games and that his brand of football wasn't exciting enough. That, and his being an outspoken Christian, sealed his doom.
Ole Miss dominated Oklahoma State 48-20 in a Sugar Bowl game that wasn't as close as the score might indicate. Tennessee completely demolished Northwestern 45-6 in the Outback Bowl, while national championship game bound Alabama embarrassed Michigan State 37-0 in the Cotton Bowl.
Mississippi State played their last game with senior quarterback Dak Prescott as they whipped North Carolina State 51-21 in the Belk Bowl. Auburn put a happy end to their season, winning the Birmingham Bowl 31-10 over up and coming Memphis. LSU completed the eight game win extravaganza with a 56-27 stomping of Texas Tech in the Texas Bowl. The second year in a row that an SEC team has blown out a Texas team in that particular bowl.
The two teams that lost were Texas A&M and Florida. Texas A&M lost 27-21 in the Music City Bowl to Louisville in a game they should have won. They allowed the Cardinals 20 points in the first few minutes then outplayed them for most of the game, but they could not make up for their early collapse. Florida was thoroughly outclassed by Michigan in the Citrus Bowl, losing to Michigan 42-7. They were tied 7-7 in the first before the Wolverines put it to the Gators.
Strength in numbers
As far the SEC's strength, their western division of seven schools had everyone ranked in the top 25 sometime during the season. Name any other big conference who could even approach that strength.
Under Bret Bielema, the Hogs have been gaining in strength every year with a won-loss record improving every year in the nation's toughest conference division.
I guess sports writers could say that perhaps the SEC East is not as good as it used to be, though it is still pretty good. Compared to the West, it seems a weak sister. Together, however, they are undeniably the most powerful collection of football teams and talent in the United States.
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Editor's note: John McGee is an award-winning columnist and sports writer. He can be contacted through The Times at [email protected].
Sports on 01/06/2016