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Now it’s time for the SEC’s real domination to begin.
With an Alabama-LSU rematch in the BCS Championship Game on Jan. 9 in New Orleans, the SEC is guaranteed to capture its sixth straight national championship. That’s the shortsighted view of the controversial matchup, but the bigger concern is the precedent it sets for a conference that already had college football in a chokehold.
Until this season, it had been taboo to have two teams from the same conference play each other in the BCS championship, let alone two teams from the same division that had already played each other.
But with that Pandora’s box now wide open for the first time, the SEC and its kingmaker commissioner Mike Slive can dominate college football like never before. That’s right, even more so than its current monopoly.
From now on, the precedent of two teams from the same conference meeting in the BCS title game will be gospel in future national championship chase debates. Other leagues may try to play that card in turbulent seasons like this one, but the reality is that it will only work for the SEC.
That’s how much the rest of college football is chasing the SEC. Forget all the talk about the conference’s recent success being cyclical.
During the SEC’s current national championship reign, almost every power of the past decade has had a shot, and none has been able to match up. First, it was Ohio State twice, then Oklahoma and Texas, and last season Oregon.
The only real contender from the past decade not to have gotten a shot at the SEC in the BCS title game is USC. Otherwise, the best of the best in recent years — outside of Boise State and TCU (a debate for another day) — haven’t been able to beat the SEC.
It’s a demoralizing reality for college football. Oregon has probably had the best teams it may ever have and failed.
Just imagine if you are Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy. This season, he had the best team in the history of his program and didn’t even make the BCS title game, despite having what some considered a better resume than Alabama.
We’re talking about just making the national championship game, not the seemingly impossible task of actually beating an SEC team in it.
So when does the SEC’s stranglehold end? Unfortunately for the rest of college football, it’s probably not anytime soon.
Name one non-SEC team that you truly believe could win the national championship next season. Maybe USC, but that’s only if quarterback Matt Barkley for some reason bypasses the NFL draft.
This season’s undefeated LSU team might actually be one of its weakest the next couple of years. Alabama is . . . well, Alabama, and both Arkansas and Georgia have young talent.
It’s not like there’s a finish line in sight for the SEC. Even if there were, it takes an immense investment to even be able to challenge the conference on a regular basis.
In this woeful economy, fewer programs are willing to make that kind of commitment financially. They also have to be more conscious of the potential backlash from football in light of the nightmarish sex-abuse scandal at Penn State that has tarnished that university’s reputation.
Combine those factors with the SEC’s supremacy, and some programs have surely decided a BCS title-game appearance isn’t as important as it once was. You can't blame them for being perfectly content with simply playing in a BCS bowl game, taking the money and going home.
If you are Iowa or Nebraska, do you really want to get in an arms race with SEC schools and use LSU and Alabama as the programs by which you measure your success? Before the SEC ruled college football, the answer would have probably been yes. But now you can't blame them if they focus only on winning the Big Ten and let the rest take care of itself.
Non-SEC programs really haven’t said that before, but they definitely believe it a lot more after this season, especially now that they know voters won’t be afraid in the future to turn in ballots with two SEC teams at the top.
So if you thought Alabama-LSU Part II for the BCS title was the pinnacle of the SEC’s dominance of college football, think again.
It’s actually just the start of it.
