The BCS Championship on Jan. 7 proved two things: quarterbacks get the attractive girls and the SEC is the dominant power in the college football world.
Alabama, who easily took home their second-straight championship with a blowout 42-14 win over top-ranked Notre Dame, continued the recent eight-year tradition of SEC football teams winning the BCS Championship.
Notre Dame, with a perfect 12-0 record going into the title game, appeared flat and shell-shocked in the first half, not scoring a single point against Alabama’s 28. The Irish allowed only two rushing touchdowns all season before they faced the Alabama rushing attack, where the Crimson Tide matched that in the first quarter.
The pure dominance of Alabama’s rushers, like freshman T.J Yeldon and junior Eddie Yates, both born in the South, may show the power of the Southern football brand, but it takes the legendary coaches of the SEC to really cultivate the teams into champions.
SEC coaches, like Alabama’s Nick Saban, South Carolina’s Steve Spurrier, LSU’s Les Miles, and Georgia’s Mark Richt, have become household names not just in college sports, but in football worldwide.
Saban’s offense outplayed the number two defense in the country, making it much easier to proclaim that it is almost impossible to hang with the SEC in this day and age. Alabama has single handedly proven this with its dominance the last four years, owning three of the last four titles. Florida and LSU are close behind in the title count with two each.
The eight-year streak of SEC wins can only be compared to one other sports phenomenon: the 13-consecutive NFC Super Bowl victories over the AFC between 1985-1997. However, the NFC is made up of different conferences much like the NCAA. The SEC’s single-conference dominance is unique to any consecutive winning sport series ever.
A four-team playoff system, proposed and passed by the BCS for 2014, will reduce the number of teams getting to big bowl games through “easy” schedules, a problem emphasized by the SEC faithful. The claims include teams outside of the SEC being able to play mediocre teams in the regular season to pad the win column in order to make a bowl game appearance. This playoff system may also limit the number of weaker teams who get the opportunity to play against the truly top teams. Mismatches like the most recent championship game wouldn’t happen.
From the way college football seasons have been going, this four-team system may still be dominated with SEC titles.