It’s easy to go overboard after one week and say that the SEC is starting a bit of a downward cycle.
The conference went 7-7 in Week 1, its worst opening week since 1992. Some of the losses were bad and some of the wins were unimpressive.
And then there’s Alabama.
More and more, the Crimson Tide are pulling away from the rest of the conference.
These days it’s less about “S-E-C! S-E-C! S-E-C!” and more like Alabama and the 13 dwarfs.
There have been a couple of programs on the rise in the past few years. Ole Miss, in particular, has a two-game winning streak against the Tide and are a legitimate top 10-15 team, but they have failed to reach the finish line in the past two years despite those two victories.
But what about the rest of the “top” teams? Are they too busy watching Alabama’s success and claiming it as a conference victory that they’ve stopped trying to compete?
The SEC has won eight national titles in the past 10 years but, that’s largely because of the handy work of Nick Saban, Urban Meyer and Cam Newton. Meyer and Newton are long gone and Saban is steadily trying to lap the field with no one in position to stop him.
LSU is thought to be the Tide’s greatest challenge each year because their roster is loaded with NFL-quality talent. But the Tigers are 17-9 since the start of the 2014 season and the questions about Les Miles’ ability to get back to a championship level are circulating again after an embarrassing opening-week loss to Wisconsin.
The Tigers are 0-5 against Alabama since the end of the 2011 regular season and I don’t believe the program has mentally recovered from the 21-0 beating it suffered against the Tide in the 2011 BCS Championship Game.
Auburn is 15-12 since its appearance in the 2013 BCS Championship game and 38-27 since Newton led them to a championship in 2010. The Tigers had a golden opportunity to upset No. 2 Clemson in the opening week, but head coach Gus Malzahn seemed more concerned with playing three quarterbacks and wasting an inspired defensive performance.
Florida was the dominant force in the SEC East during Meyer’s run, winning three division titles, two SEC titles and two BCS championships. The Gators, however, are 40-25 since Meyer’s departure with just one outright division title. That’s despite the SEC East’s overall struggles.
Hiring Will Muschamp proved to be disastrous on offense, but while Muschamp takes a lot of the blame, some has to be placed on retiring athletic director Jeremy Foley, who got complacent during Meyer’s run of dominance and allowed Florida’s facilities to fall behind the rest of the conference.
While that doesn’t excuse Muschamp’s failures as a coach, it does explain why one of Jim McElwain’s first orders of business was to demand upgrades in the locker rooms, football offices and a stand-alone indoor practice field. He knows that appearance is everything and the Gators need to look like champions if they want championship results.
Tennessee is 75-65 and hasn’t had a 10-win season since 2004. The 2016 Volunteers enjoyed an offseason of high expectations but they didn’t look anything like a top 10 team last Thursday against Appalachian State.
South Carolina went 42-11 with a division title from 2010-2013, but the Gamecocks are 11-15 since then and could miss a bowl game in consecutive seasons for the first time since a three-year stretch in 2002-2004.
Who’s going to step up and compete with Alabama? Or have the rest of these programs become more comfortable being sideline cheerleaders, watching the Tide collect championship after championship and then boasting about the almighty “S-E-C.”
Here’s a news flash for you. Alabama would be Alabama regardless of conference. The Tide could be in the Big Ten, the Big XII, the AFC South or Smythe Division and they’d still beat the brakes off of the best college football has to offer.
The Tide are way above the SEC right now. They look down on the rest of the mighty SEC because they are that good. We all expected a little bit of a fall off Saturday with a new quarterback and new backfield. And it took Alabama about a quarter and a half to get things rolling (pun intended) and then the rout was on.
This isn’t to say Alabama will win every game 52-6. Surely Jalen Hurts will play like a true freshman at some point this season and he’ll have to face some serious tests, but which team is going to put the pressure on?
Who’s ready to step up to the challenge? Which SEC program is willing to provide a little resistance to Alabama’s road to another SEC title and another berth in the college football playoff?
Georgia? Maybe.
Texas A&M? Possibly.
Florida and Tennessee are better than what they showed last week.
LSU has the talent to bounce back from last week’s disappointment.
But Alabama isn’t going to wait around for long.
It’s time for other teams to stop claiming the Tide’s success and try to get on their level.
Corey Long is a freelance writer for SaturdayDownSouth.com. Follow Corey on Twitter @CoreyLong.
