MARINE CORPS AIR STATION IWAKUNI, Japan -- South Eastern Conference. These three words have signified complete and total domination on the national college football landscape. These words generate feelings of admiration and equal repulsion when brought up in conversation. The SEC has once again proven its dominion over all other college football conferences most recently with the spectacle of the 2012 Bowl Championship Series national championship game in the Mercedes Benz Superdome in New Orleans.
It’s an age-old argument. College football aficionados, and any armchair quarterback worth his bandwagon jumping tendencies will tell you the SEC is either overrated or can’t be stopped. Though I’m an SEC boy through and through, I believe the argument can be found somewhere between both extremes.
The SEC is powerful, period. Eight BCS championships and one loss, which by the way came from ANOTHER SEC team in the national championship, in 14 years and a total of 35, yes, THIRTY FIVE, national championships all together speaks louder than anything else. But (and there’s always a “but”, isn’t there?) this success can breed a very egotistical attitude that borders on narcissism.
If you went six straight seasons without defeat on the national level, you would feel a sense of invulnerability too. This has led to a biased view within the SEC, the powersthat- be and major sports authorities, such as “Sports Illustrated” or “Entertainment and Sports Programming Network”. If you don’t believe me, look at the overwhelming evidence: the seismic, near catastrophic realignment of the major conferences across the college football landscape which took place the previous off-season. The catalyst for this event was the SEC’s dominance. Teams left conferences they had been aligned with for decades, because their conference could not compete against the predisposition the BCS has for the SEC as a whole. Other conferences realized in order to improve their chances to see a representative in the national championship, they had to increase membership and establish a true conference championship by way of two division champs slugging it out.
This model of determining a conference was established by, you guessed it, the SEC. These changes led to the hatred of the SEC.
People were banking on the Oregon Ducks, who at the start of the 2011 season were ranked number three in the nation, to prove this Pacific Athletic Conference 12 conference team was the most likely candidate to topple the mighty SEC from its throne and show that it (PAC-12) was here to stay. Oregon was embarrassed by the LSU Tigers, an SEC team, at the start of the season. Anyone remotely associated with college football knows what came after that: Alabama and LSU duked it out for the right to be called national champions.
All these ingredients which the SEC helped to create: the establishing of a conference championship game, the realignment of the major conference, its own over-saturation on the collegiate landscape, two teams from its own conference competing for the national title-could possibly unseat the SEC as the king of college football. These factors will eventually lead to one of two inevitable outcomes: either a team will finally emerge to challenge the SEC consistently or a playoff style national championship system will be established. Time will tell which comes to fruition.
On the other hand, these very things are what make the SEC loved by its benefactors and hated by those outside the Deep South.
The SEC is not going anywhere. In a region where football is king, kids dream of playing for the Tide, Gators, Tigers, Razorbacks, and Bulldogs of the conference. Many of these teams are the sole Division 1 teams in their state and recognized statewide as such, unless you happen to be Auburn University or Mississippi State.
The SEC’s power has forced it to grow once again by accepting Texas Agricultural and Mechanical University and the University of Missouri into its ranks. This can only lead to more increasingly shared revenue, awards, bowls and national titles.
It will tap into an oil well of recruits from the Lone Star State. The SEC is the top dog for a reason. It wins.
No one can deny that. People who aren’t a part of the conference or know nothing of the passion and pageantry of college football can never understand. It’s like being a Marine: either you have been a part of a brotherhood who fought and bled together in the trenches or you won’t understand it.
I’m sure there will be some young upstart team who finally does break the SEC’s title streak, and it will be justly deserved. To those on the outside, they’ll be seen as the heroes who have finally slain the villains. The SEC faithful won’t be upset. We understand every dog has his day, and we know the biggest dog will be back for the next round. So to whatever team does finally unseat us, I’ll say congratulations and thanks for keeping the seat warm for us.