The SEC’s run of championships ended a year ago, but not having a team competing in the national championship game next Monday seems to signify a more clear ending to the SEC’s run of dominance. Whether the SEC bounces back or not in 2015 remains to be seen, but we can look back and examine how the SEC run changed the sport.

The Football

For years, the SEC has had the reputation of dominating the trenches. Chip Kelly’s famous comment after his Oregon squad lost to LSU back in 2011 said it all: “They got a little bit different athlete running around out there…Look at their defensive linemen. Standing next to them, walking off the field, they don’t look like a lot of the guys we see.”

Since then, powerhouse teams around the country have worked hard to either get more physical, run schemes to counter-act the physical dominance upfront of SEC teams, or both.

The no-huddle and up-tempo trend has picked up tremendously in recent years. Alabama – often viewed as the epitome of SEC physical dominance – has struggled at times against teams running such an offense. Even Nick Saban has adjusted and moved towards recruiting some defensive linemen that can play a more hybrid-like role both on the defensive line and at the linebacker position.

Changes have also come in the form of salaries. The SEC arms race to hire the nation’s top coaches has forced other conferences and non-SEC programs to open up the coffers to remain competitive. Look no further than the Big Ten’s recent moves which has landed Jim Harbaugh, Urban Meyer and James Franklin.

The Fans & Rivalries

Perhaps no aspect of college football changed more than the fans themselves.

SEC football has been remarkably polarizing. While SEC fans became increasingly annoying and abrasive with their chants, the rest of the country fell into a state of opposition ranging from SEC fatigue to hatred.

When an SEC fan’s own team was out of the running for the title, his or her allegiance typically moved toward whatever SEC team still had a chance at a title. Similarly, you found non-SEC fans hoping for “anybody but the SEC.”

The apex of this tension of course was the all-SEC BCS Championship Game between Alabama and LSU. The fact that the game was an unentertaining and uncompetitive matchup provided plenty of fodder to national pundits ready to pounce on the system which put two teams from the same SEC division in the national title game.

This anti-SEC attitude has also penetrated even the talking points of major head coaches. Who can forget Dabo Swinney proclaiming to the world
how he just knocked off two top SEC teams (LSU at the Peach Bowl, then Georgia in the 2013 season opener)? Or, more recently, Georgia Tech’s Paul Johnson noted, “And, for at least a week or two, we don’t have to hear about the SEC.” after knocking off Mississippi State in the recent Orange Bowl.

Players’ comments have followed along as well. After knocking off Alabama in last week’s Sugar Bowl, an Ohio State player was excited to announce that they had knocked off the big, bad SEC. Not Alabama. The SEC.

As the notion of conference pride both inside and outside the SEC has increased in recent years, one of the areas of college football that has been diminished is the rivalries. Sure, the Iron Bowl, Egg Bowl and so forth are very alive and well, but the hatred between conference rivals has tempered in this new era of college football. While still rare, just the fact that there exists some Auburn fans that might root for Alabama against Notre Dame in the BCS Championship Game because it’s “good for the conference” shows that the nature of rivalries has changed.

The Media

Responding to the changing attitudes of fans, conference affiliation has become an increased part of the media’s narrative when covering college football.

When a new poll is released, it’s often discussed with regards to how many SEC teams are ranked in the top ten. For much of the 2014 season, the discussion surrounding the College Football Playoff rankings involved just how many SEC teams might get into the four-team playoff.

And of course the environment was perfect for the emergence of ESPN’s Danny Kanell who does a great job covering college football, but also perfectly crafted himself as the voice against the SEC. When an SEC team gets embarrassed in a bowl game, you can start the countdown for when Kanell will release a shot at the conference via his Twitter account.

2014 also saw the month-long discussion about ESPN’s possible “sec bias.” Whether it was GameDay broadcast locations, how many minutes each GameDay episode spent talking about SEC teams or just the fact that ESPN has a stake in the SEC Network, fans and other members of the media jumped on the SEC bias discussion this season.

As all 14 SEC teams sit on the sidelines for the first time in nearly a decade during the season’s final game, future championships are a big unknown. One thing, however, is clear… the SEC’s run since Florida started the streak against Ohio State back in early 2007 has changed college football.