The Southeastern Conference has come under scrutiny in the college football world because its seven-year National Championship streak has come to an end. The conference has not won a National Championship the last two seasons. So does this mean the SEC is done at the top of the college football landscape? We shall take a look.
Perhaps the expectations have been a bit overblown by the rest of the country. The unprecedented seven-year streak of national titles in the sport violate every law against a monopoly. The SEC took the other conferences in the country by the throat. When you examine the stats, the SEC is still the top conference in the land.
Recruiting is still dominated by the SEC. Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia, Auburn, LSU, and Texas A&M were all in the top ten in recruiting for the 2015 season. The ACC was the second closest conference to the SEC, with a whopping two teams in the top ten. Nine of the fourteen teams in the conference were in the top twenty-five, also more than any other conference. The Pac-12 had five. SEC teams have also nabbed the number one overall player the last two seasons, Da'shawn Hand and Byron Cowart. So, clearly the recruits around the nation do not mind the excruciating drought of two whole seasons without a title.
The SEC, without winning a national title the last two seasons, still put a representative from the conference in the National Championship game and the Inaugural College Football Playoff. The games were competitive. So, the SEC going downhill isn't justified. For the first time in four seasons, the conference did not have four teams win 11 games. That is quite a feat, and the conference is sure to rebound from their less-than-stellar season this past year.
One last point to bring up: If the SEC isn't the best conference in the land, who is? In the two years the SEC has not won, no other conference has won back-to-back national titles, or even put in a representative in back-to-back seasons, for that matter. Three years ago, people didn't even regard the Big Ten as a top-five conference in college football.
With Boise State in the Mountain West, many picked them over the abysmal Big Ten, especially in big games. The Pac-12 is the only conference with a legit argument, but even they don't have a National Championship to stand on. You also can't forget about the newly-launched SEC Network, which is the highest grossing conference digital network in the country. Each team at SEC meetings this summer took home a fat check of around $34 million. So, let's simmer down a little bit on the talk of the SEC falling from glory.
