Florida State was the SEC’s quintessential villain during the Seminoles’ 29-game winning streak, a majestic run spanning the 2013 and much of the 2014 seasons highlighted by a quirky and ego-rich Heisman Trophy winner at quarterback who ended the SEC’s seven-year reign at the top of the BCS.

We’re not afraid to admit that in our own headquarters based in Orlando, we kept up with the Seminoles’ ACC games — including seismic showdowns against Notre Dame at Doak and Louisville on the road — last season every weekend, anticipating when the nation’s most impressive streak would come to a screeching halt.

When it finally did against Oregon, the result was satisfying and sparked our video crew’s now infamous ‘Jameis RKO’ clip. Most of that high was nullified a few hours later when fourth-seeded Ohio State upset Alabama in the second national semifinal.

The bullseye moved from Tallahassee to Columbus and centered on Urban Meyer and the Buckeyes who later seized taken the throne to claim the first College Football Playoff championship.

Ranking the SEC’s top villains

5. CBS analyst Rick Neuheisel

Before his coaching tenure ended at UCLA and he joined the Pac-12 Network as a guest analyst in 2012, Neuheisel was a thorn in the SEC’s side — at least verbally.

He often disregared the SEC’s out-of-conference dominance against other Power 5 conferences and complained about the league’s popularity nationally, blaming ESPN for its coverage overload of the SEC’s elite teams. Neuheisel even chirped about College GameDay’s lack of Pac-12 coverage, due in part to ESPN’s financial interest in the SEC.

“You wonder how the SEC became so powerful? It’s a direct correlation to how ESPN has been talking them up over the years, because they have a financial interest in them,” Neuheisel said. “So all the sudden, it’s a monster conference.”

We haven’t yet forgotten about Neuheisel’s ‘Born in the SEC’ song on the Dan Patrick Show, either.

Neuheisel edged out ESPN analyst and former Florida State quarterback Danny Kanell, who often tweets SEC vitriol, for the No. 5 spot.

4. Georgia Tech coach Paul Johnson

There’s recency bias, sure, but if there’s any coach in the country with substantial bragging rights over the SEC it’s this North Carolina native who has beaten Georgia and Mississippi State his last two outings.

Following Georgia Tech’s emphatic Orange Bowl win over Dan Mullen’s seventh-ranked Bulldogs during which the Yellow Jackets rushed for 452 yards and six touchdowns, Johnson quipped: “For a week or so we won’t have to hear about the SEC.”

He wasn’t done.

Johnson was recently asked if the ACC should adopt the SEC’s new transfer policy, which bans programs from acquiring players who have been disciplined for serious misconduct.

Johnson didn’t disappoint.

“We don’t have that problem, I don’t think,” Johnson said. “We can’t get them in school anyway. I’ve never had that problem accepting kids with serious misconduct problems.”

3. Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh and satellite camps

The first of two Big Ten coaches in the SEC’s ‘Most Hated’ lists, Harbaugh’s the new sheriff in town with his sights set on taking out the SEC in its own backyard.

Like Ohio State’s Urban Meyer, Harbaugh is expanding his league’s footprint into SEC territory thanks to appearances at oft-criticized satellite camps — an active recruiting ground off limits to the SEC (which has caused Gus Malzahn and Nick Saban to blow a gasket).

The Big Ten allows its head coaches to ‘guest coach’ at such events off campus, giving staffs hands-on time with potential prospects. Since taking over with the Wolverines, Harbaugh has landed three three commitments from Prattville, Ala., including linebacker Dytarious Johnson, who committed to Michigan on Friday after being offered by the Maize & Blue at this week’s satellite camp.

2. Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops

If you think Stoops despises the SEC, it’s because he does.

Or at least the SEC hype machine that he has labeled ‘propaganda.’

Never one to hide his true feelings, Stoops hasn’t been one of the league’s allies since he departed the conference for Oklahoma after flourishing as Steve Spurrier’s former defensive coordinator at Florida in the late 1990s. Since winning a national championship during his second season with the Sooners in 2000, Stoops’ title ‘Big Game Bob’ has evaporated on the big stage.

His win over Alabama in the 2013 Sugar Bowl softened the blow of a humiliating 28-point loss to Texas A&M in the Cotton Bowl the previous season. Known to bash the SEC publicly, he did so again after he conquered the Crimson Tide.

“Who’s afraid of the big, bad wolf now?”

Stoops will try and take Tennessee out of the CFP equation early this season when he attempts to hand Butch Jones his 17th loss in 18 career games against ranked teams on Sept. 12 in Knoxville.

1. Ohio State coach Urban Meyer

Everyone hates a winner.

Public enemy No. 1 is Meyer, the former two-time national champion from the SEC who took a temporary retirement after the 2010 season at Florida to later land his dream job in Columbus, Ohio.

Since taking over the Buckeyes’ football program in 2012, Meyer’s won 38 games in 41 tries and hasn’t lost a game in the Big Ten. Depending on who you ask, he has leaped Alabama’s Nick Saban as college football’s top coach and has a dynasty in the making thanks to a favorable Power 5 schedule and a firm grasp on recruiting against primary rivals.

In April, Ohio State extended Meyer’s contract through 2020, with an average annual salary of $6.5 million — second only to Saban.

Just missed the cut: Danny Kanell, ESPN analyst; Dabo Swinney, Clemson; David Shaw, Stanford; Jimbo Fisher, Florida State