SEC
SEC Shows The Money
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The SEC is college sports’ first billion-dollar conference. Or at least they’re the first to announce it.
The SEC made enough revenue this most recent fiscal year to distribute $1.03 billion to its 16 schools, the conference announced Thursday. That’s an increase from $808.4 million during the 2023-24 fiscal year.
That means SEC schools received an average payout of $72.4 million, up from $53.8 million in the previous year.
That payout also came in the last year before schools were required to share revenue with athletes, $20.6 million beginning this past fall. So,
if the current fiscal year payout ends up just a tick higher, the year-over-year increase would match what SEC teams are paying their athletes in NIL deals.
“As college athletics continues to undergo significant change, SEC universities are well-positioned to deliver new financial benefits for student-athletes while continuing to offer a transformative, life-changing college experience,” SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said in a statement.
The timing for the SEC’s massive increase is no surprise: 2024-25 was the SEC’s first year in its new ESPN contract, as well as the first with Oklahoma and Texas in the conference, and the year in which the College Football Playoff expanded to 12 teams.
The Big Ten is also expected to go above the $1 billion mark. Its total revenue was $928 million for the 2023-24 fiscal year, and while that was the first for its new television package, it then added Oregon, UCLA, USC and Washington.
The vast majority of conference revenue comes from television contracts; ESPN is paying the SEC more than $900 million (the exact figure has not been revealed).
That number is expected to increase by around $5 million more per school next year with the SEC agreeing to add a ninth conference game for football.
Other revenue comes from the NCAA basketball tournament, bowl payouts, the SEC football championship game, the SEC men’s basketball tournament and NCAA championships.
The SEC generally has an equal distribution policy, but teams that make the CFP also receive direct payouts, which were included in the $1.03 billion figure. Texas, for instance, received $12.1 million just for making the CFP semifinals.
The SEC’s announcement just means More $$$$$$$.
Crownless SEC
By: Michael Spiers
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
For those of us who grew up believing the SEC was not just a conference but a force of nature, the last couple of seasons have felt… unsettling.
Not catastrophic. Not embarrassing. But different.
And when you love the SEC the way some of us love it, when you’ve measured fall Saturdays by kickoff times in Athens and lived and died with the Georgia Bulldogs, “different” can feel like an existential threat.
Let’s start with the uncomfortable evidence.
Two straight national champions from the Big Ten, and possibly a third after next Monday. And now, two straight title games without an SEC logo anywhere near the field.
Alabama got pushed around by Indiana in a way that would have been unthinkable a decade ago.
Bowl season numbers that don’t lie, even if we try to explain them away. Middle-of-the-pack SEC teams losing to middle-of-the-pack Big Ten and ACC teams.
That mystique Curt Cignetti dismissed before his team throttled Alabama? It wasn’t disrespect. It was reality.
And yet, if you’re asking whether the SEC is still the king of college football, the honest answer depends on how you define “king.”
If king means untouchable, inevitable, and hoisting the trophy every January like it’s preordained, then no. That era is over. Probably forever. The sport has changed too much for that kind of monopoly to exist again.
NIL, the transfer portal, revenue sharing, and an expanded playoff have done what no conference alignment or coaching carousel ever could. They’ve redistributed power.
The SEC once thrived on accumulation. Georgia, Alabama, LSU, Florida. They stacked recruiting classes so deep that second strings looked like NFL practice squads.
Kirby Smart’s two-deep defenses during Georgia’s championship run were absurd. Alabama once had four future first-round receivers on the same roster. That’s not happening again.
The four-star kid who used to wait his turn now leaves. The backup guard wants to start. The third receiver wants targets and NIL money. Depth evaporates.
That doesn’t mean the SEC is weaker. It means everyone else is stronger.
And this is where the conversation often loses nuance. The SEC hasn’t fallen. The sport has flattened.
When Illinois flips a running back from Alabama, when Indiana doesn’t flinch at the sight of crimson helmets, when Oregon, Ohio State, Michigan, and Penn State can all realistically believe they belong, that’s not an indictment of the SEC. It’s a reflection of a new ecosystem.
From a Georgia fan’s perspective, this is both frustrating and fascinating.
Frustrating because dominance was comforting. You knew that if the Bulldogs didn’t win it all, someone from “our side” probably would. Fascinating because now, winning actually means something again.
The margin for error is gone. The invincibility is gone. And the sport feels alive in a way it hadn’t for years.
The SEC is still loaded. The league still produces NFL talent at an absurd rate. It still commands the biggest TV audiences, the loudest stadiums, and the deepest emotional investment. Walk into a bar in Athens, Tuscaloosa, Baton Rouge, or Knoxville on a fall Saturday and tell me this league has lost its soul. It hasn’t.
What it has lost is its insulation.
Georgia still recruits at an elite level. Alabama still signs blue chips. Texas has arrived with resources to match anyone. LSU reloads every year. Ole Miss can still win it all. But none of them can hoard talent anymore. None of them can sleepwalk through November. None of them can assume January belongs to them.
And maybe that’s the real test of kingship.
Because the SEC isn’t being dethroned by one rival or one conference. It’s being challenged by parity. By accessibility. By a sport that no longer allows any region to lock the door behind it.
As someone who bleeds red and black, who still believes Georgia under Kirby Smart is capable of winning it all in any given year, I don’t see this as the end of SEC supremacy. I see it as the end of SEC entitlement.
The crown isn’t gone. It’s just heavier now.
And the truth is, if the SEC really is what we’ve always claimed it to be, then it will adapt.
It will evolve. It will win again. Just not automatically. Not easily. Not without earning it.
Which might be the most SEC thing of all.
Farewell Old Friend
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
On Tuesday, the SEC will unveil every team’s conference opponents for the next four football seasons, including three designated annual foes. The three rivals each team will face went public recently, and most of the pairings made sense.
The SEC protected historic rivalries such as Georgia-Auburn, Alabama-Tennessee and games that mattered to nearby fan bases like Tennessee-Kentucky and South Carolina-Georgia.
A handful of the annual matchups, like Missouri-Texas A&M and Oklahoma-Ole Miss, are far from rivalries, and those are most likely to rotate after this four-year block when the league reassesses its schedules.
The SEC brass has not said what it used as a competitive balance barometer, but no team drew more than two permanent opponents in the upper half of the league’s wins leaderboard over the College Football Playoff and BCS eras. That tenet may allow for fair scheduling, but it cost the league one of its best annual rivalries.
Below, I list the SEC’s 7 best rivalries that, for now will no longer be played each year — starting with the most obvious omission.
- Alabama-LSU
This is painful. The LSU-Alabama series has become a staple of the November schedule, and the rivals have played every year since 1964. At least one team was ranked No. 1 or No. 2 in 12 of those matchups, and the programs have combined for nine national titles since 2003.
2.Tennessee-Florida
While this game had no real chance at annual preservation due to both sides’ rivalry priorities, it’s still a bummer to see it cycle off their schedules. Tennessee-Florida is a rivalry created by realignment, when the SEC placed both schools into the East Division in 1992. From 1916 until 1990, they played only 19 times. From 1990 through 2002, both teams were mainstays in the top 10, setting the stage for the SEC’s best rivalry over that time frame.
- Alabama-Georgia
Let’s start with the obvious: This had no shot at getting protected. Both programs must play Auburn, and the Alabama-Tennessee and Florida-Georgia rivalries are woven into the fabric of college football history. But even for these border heavyweights to face off twice every four years should be considered a win. This week’s matchup marks just the fourth time the Bulldogs and Crimson Tide have met in the regular season since 2008. Over that time frame, Alabama-Georgia played four times in the SEC title game and twice for the CFP title.
- Tennessee-Georgia
Both Tennessee and Georgia are in the running for the most rivals of any team in the country. This series has a limited number of games — they didn’t play at all for a 31-year stretch and met only eight times from 1937 until 1992. But Tennessee-Georgia (No. 53) has produced some massive games in recent years. The teams have battled 20 times as ranked opponents, and their 2022 game featured the first No. 1 vs. No. 2 showdown in Sanford Stadium history.
- Florida-LSU
During the divisional era, this was a permanent crossover. Then Florida-LSU (No. 64) played some outstanding games and have met every year since 1971, which justified keeping the rivalry intact. They have faced off in 25 ranked matchups, second-most among longtime SEC rivalries behind only Alabama-LSU. It’s also an unpredictable series, with the teams combining for nine top-10 upsets (Florida won five of those, LSU four).
- LSU-Mississippi State
This was the only SEC series with more than 100 meetings to get sacked. LSU-Mississippi State (No. 100 in the Top 100) has been played 117 times, but the expanded SEC’s schedule adjustments in the last two years resulted in this matchup becoming collateral damage. LSU could have a full SEC slate of opponents deemed a rival (including Auburn), but the Tigers’ surging series with Texas A&M and its propensity for great games with Arkansas take precedence. Mississippi State preserves the Egg Bowl with Ole Miss and gets an 80-mile drive to Alabama, plus four years of dates with Vanderbilt.
- Auburn-Florida
There was hope this one might return to yearly status, but it was competitively unbalanced. Auburn already has games with Alabama and Georgia, which rank No. 1 and No. 2 in total victories in the BCS/CFP era among SEC teams. To add Florida (which was sixth) would create major schedule disparity for the Tigers. Some Florida fans contend Auburn was the Gators’ No. 2 SEC rival after Georgia. It’s too bad because the teams played every year from 1945 through 2002, with 84 total meetings (Auburn leads 43-39-2).
Some fans do not like the new scheduling because they are so accustomed to the regional games, while others welcome the new balance in SEC scheduled. College football and especially the SEC is now on a national landscape and the schedule changes, promoting television eyes around the country.
Let’s Play Nine
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Four years after the nine-game debate heated up, and over two years after SEC commissioner Greg Sankey compared the decision to landing a plane, they finally did. They finally landed the plane.
The SEC recently announced that it is officially going to a nine-game schedule, ending a long saga with a vote of school presidents. Now comes the saga within the saga: Who are each team’s annual rivals? They get three now.
The nine-game format has two main components:
Three games against annual opponents.
Six games against non-annual opponents, rotated such that everybody plays each other twice in four years, home and away. (Other than neutral-site games: Georgia-Florida and Oklahoma-Texas.)
This format will begin in 2026 and will be on a four-year cycle.
Sources reiterated that the three annual rivals could be revisited and revised. That gives the conference flexibility to change those annual opponents — either because rivalries evolve, competition standards evolve, or financial needs evolve.
The SEC did not announce the three annual rivals for each team. Sankey pointed to an announcement in December, since those announcements have worked well the past few years.
He added that the schools themselves will be notified earlier, which indicates that the proposed list from years ago has already changed.
That list was done in 2023, and it prioritized historical rivalries and competition. The conference worked with an analytics company to develop a metric that took into account every team’s 10-year record in an effort to balance schedules.
The result was keeping each team’s top one or two rivalries, but sometimes not their third.
Georgia, for instance, would play Florida and Auburn, but then Kentucky, rather than Tennessee or South Carolina. There was also the odd matchup between Florida and Oklahoma.
These odd matchups may still end up being these team’s three annual rivalries.
But sources indicate that the SEC will not follow the earlier proposed 2023 matchup list.
Sankey, appearing on the SEC Network on Thursday, emphasized tradition: “We’ll look at historical rivalries. That’s a really important component,” Sankey said. “We have a lot of those. In fact, in many ways, we’re uniquely positioned to honor those historic rivalries. So those become annual opponents on a schedule. Not everyone has three, but that’s the basis, is three annual opponents.”
The last point is key: Not every school has three teams they would consider historic or geographic rivals. Some have over four. It’s going to be hard to create everyone’s ideal list.
On the other hand, it’s better than the alternative: The eight-game schedule had one annual rival, which meant games like Texas-Texas A&M, Alabama-Tennessee and Auburn-Georgia might not have been played every year.
Yes, Sankey said this year they had a way of continuing to play those games in an eight-game schedule, but it would have created a headache for schedule makers.
That also may have been Sankey’s way of signaling that they were going to end up protecting those rivalries through a nine-game schedule.
So how will it look?
Here is a potential list, prioritizing tradition and geography, not competition. The seemingly most important rivals are listed first:
Alabama: Auburn, Tennessee, LSU
Arkansas: Missouri, Texas, Kentucky
Auburn: Alabama, Georgia, Florida
Florida: Georgia, Auburn, South Carolina
Georgia: Auburn, Florida, South Carolina
Kentucky: Tennessee, Mississippi State, Arkansas
LSU: Alabama, Ole Miss, Texas A&M
Mississippi State: Ole Miss, Kentucky, South Carolina
Missouri: Oklahoma, Arkansas, Vanderbilt
Oklahoma: Texas, Missouri, Texas A&M
Ole Miss: Mississippi State, LSU, Vanderbilt
South Carolina: Georgia, Florida, Mississippi State
Tennessee: Vanderbilt, Alabama, Kentucky
Texas: Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Arkansas
Texas A&M: Texas, Oklahoma, LSU
Vanderbilt: Tennessee, Ole Miss, Missouri
This isn’t perfect. It leaves out some natural geographic rivals like Alabama and Mississippi State, which are only about 90 miles apart.
It also leaves out historic rivals like Florida and LSU, who developed a good cross-division rivalry during the SEC East-West days. But it does restore Auburn and Florida, who were annual opponents until 2002.
There are also “fill-in” games, such as South Carolina-Mississippi State. It would be great to have Mississippi State play Alabama, but who would Alabama ditch among Auburn, Tennessee and LSU?
Television matters. ESPN is set to pay each school an estimated $5 million extra for adding the ninth game, per multiple sources.
A driving force of this decision was to enhance the viewership of the regular season, sources confirm.
This makes the most sense as the conference enters the College Football Playoff expansion, which would seem to erode the impact of the regular season.
The New QBs
By: Colin Lacy
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
As we hit the unofficial end of the offseason with the SEC Kickoff Media Days coming to Atlanta this week, one of the biggest questions around the league will be the first year starting quarterbacks.
The SEC is flooded with first year starting quarterbacks this year with nine of the sixteen teams breaking in a year one starter running the offense.
Some of those have more questions around them, but the biggest questions in my opinion come from Knoxville, Tuscaloosa, and Auburn.
In Tuscaloosa, Ty Simpson is expected to be named starter for the Crimson Tide to fill the shoes of Jalen Milroe.
There’s been a lot of moving parts in T-Town on the offensive side to try and make the transition to the new signal caller with Kalen DeBoer changing up the play caller and bringing in Ryan Grubb as the new offensive coordinator and essentially demoting Nick Sheridan to “co-offensive coordinator and QBs Coach”.
After spending two years with Coach DeBoer as the OC leading Washington to two magical seasons in 2022 & 2023, Grubb spent the 2024 season as the offensive coordinator for the Seattle Seahawks.
Simpson is a name that Bama fans have heard for three years and has been in the program since 2022 but has seen limited action behind Milroe.
Simpson in 16 career games over the first three years of his career only has 50 pass attempts with only real meaningful snaps coming in the 2023 matchup against South Florida where he helped lead Bama to a victory in game 2 of the year when Milroe got benched for one game by Nick Saban.
Simpson is expected to make his first career start in Tallahassee on August 30th when the Tide open the year against Florida State.
Knoxville has been an interesting situation this offseason for the quarterback room. At the end of spring ball, Nico Iamaleava shockingly decided to enter the transfer portal and ended up at UCLA.
That caused Tennessee to scramble (no pun intended) and find a QB1 in the portal, so they landed on Joey Aguilar who was a two-year starter at Appalachian State before spending the spring at UCLA before transferring to Tennessee.
Aguilar racked up over 3,000 yards passing in 2024 for the Mountaineers and was named honorable mention All-Sun Belt both years in Boone.
Aguilar is pretty set in Knoxville to start the year at QB1 for Josh Heupel, but in my eyes won’t finish the year like that.
Aguilar absolutely is talented, there’s no doubt about that, but seeing him at App State, he’s not an SEC Quarterback.
That could open the door to Savannah product Jake Merklinger. Merklinger redshirted last season in Knoxville and will have four years of eligibility remaining for the Calvary Day alum.
My two cents says that Aguilar will start the year, but by the week five off week, Merklinger could be set up to start the Arkansas match-up the following week.
Finally, Auburn has been an interesting scenario at quarterback. After the departure of Peyton Thorne (who is now on the roster for the Cincinnati Bengals), Hugh Freeze hit the transfer portal to bring in Jackson Arnold.
Arnold spent two seasons at Oklahoma with a rocky 2024 season. Arnold was benched in the mid-September matchup with Tennessee for Michael Hawkins because of struggles for Arnold.
The former Sooner threw for over 1,400 yards with 12 scores but struggled at times. The plus side for Arnold is that while he’s technically a first-year starter (for Auburn) he does bring SEC experience having played in seventeen career games with five starts.
This is the most intriguing to watch for me and the one that could turn up golden for the Aubs or could turn the lights out on Hugh Freeze.
There are so many un-answered questions swirling around quarterbacks in the SEC which has created buzz and excitement around the best football league in the country.
Again, I think that Gunner Stockton for Georgia and Austin Simmons for Ole Miss will be the two that will be consistently solid throughout the year, but watching the rest unfold will be incredible to see as the season goes on.
Break Out
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The Southeastern Conference (SEC) remains the gold standard of college football, consistently producing NFL talent and competitive programs.
As the 2025 season approaches, several under-the-radar players are poised to explode onto the national scene.
While many fans focus on household names and established stars, it’s often the breakout players who define a season. Here are five SEC athletes primed to make a major impact in 2025.
Cam Coleman – Wide Receiver, Auburn: The former five-star recruit couldn’t quite reach the same heights as fellow C/O 2024 receivers Jeremiah Smith and Ryan Williams due to Auburn’s offensive struggles.
However, Coleman absolutely has the athleticism and skill necessary to be a star in this sport.
After a slow start, he put up eye-popping numbers in the Tiger’s last three games, hauling in 22 catches for 306 yards and six touchdowns.
Upgrades from the portal will help his production improve, with Auburn bringing in quarterback Jackson Arnold from Oklahoma, as well as highly touted offensive linemen Xavier Chaplin and Mason Murphy.
The 6 ‘3 receiver will also be complemented nicely by Georgia Tech transfer Eric Singleton Jr., who should keep some double-coverage off Coleman.
KJ Bolden – Safety Georgia: Georgia is essentially swapping one All-American safety for another this offseason.
Bolden will be taking over for probable first-round pick Malachai Starks in the Bulldogs secondary after an impressive freshman campaign.
Playing a rotational role for a stingy Georgia defense, the hard-hitting safety turned heads when he was on the field, compiling 59 tackles, a sack, a forced fumble and an interception in 15 games.
Able to play at any spot on the field, Bolden has the chance in 2025 to cement himself as Georgia’s next great defensive-back.
Austin Simmons – QB Ole Miss: In other years, I’d have Simmons as a top-5 quarterback in the SEC entering the season.
The buzz out of Oxford is that the southpaw is exactly the guy we saw save the day against Georgia.
Simmons’ touchdown drive might’ve fueled a ton of offseason hype but go back to the fact that he reclassified from 2025 to 2023, and heading into his redshirt freshman season, he beat out coveted former LSU transfer Walker Howard for the backup job.
Simmons did that while still juggling baseball duties. He moved on from baseball in hopes of becoming Lane Kiffin’s next great quarterback.
He’s got a largely new group of pass-catchers — Cayden Lee will be worthy of preseason All-SEC love — and he’ll have to do more heavy lifting than the 2024 Rebels offense had to do with an elite defense.
Jadan Baugh – RB, Florida: Florida’s offense enters a pivotal year, and one of its most exciting weapons might be sophomore Jaden Baugh.
Baugh is now the lead candidate to start at running back. A lightning-quick runner with elite agility, he brings a home-run threat every time he touches the ball.
At 6’ and 230 pounds, Baugh combines speed with power and vision.
Head coach Billy Napier has hinted at a heavier ground attack in 2025, making Baugh a potential breakout star in Gainesville.
Rueben Owens – RB Texas A&M: As brutal as it was to watch Owens go down with a broken foot in fall camp after a promising true freshman campaign — he forced 23 missed tackles on 101 carries in 2023 — it was encouraging to see him return at all in 2024.
Owens got to shake out the cobwebs and get live reps in the Collin Klein offense as the lead back in the bowl game.
Owens likely won’t get lead-back work once All-SEC running back Le’Veon Moss makes a full return, but it remains to be seen what he’ll look like coming off his nasty season-ending knee injury.
Even if Moss looks like the best version of himself, you could still see multiple stars emerge in the backfield, especially one that’ll operate behind 5 returning starters on the offensive line.
That’s a massive benefit for A&M. Offensive line continuity is everything in this era.
Complement that with a talented, elusive tailback like Owens in a run-heavy scheme and you’ll see plenty of big-time moments from No. 4.
The SEC never lacks star power, but each season also brings a new wave of impact players ready to seize the spotlight.
Here are a few other players to keep an eye on: Jaydn Ott (RB, Oklahoma), Jack Endries (TE, Texas), Cayden Lee (WR, Ole Miss), Aaron Anderson (WR, LSU) and Gunner Stockton(QB, Georgia).
The QB1’s
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Five quarterbacks embody the SEC with their blend of elite production, high-end talent, and promising upside.
Entering the 2025 season, LSU’s Garrett Nussmeier holds the top spot as both the most productive and experienced returning QB, while Texas’s Arch Manning’s first full year as a starter brings blue-chip intrigue.
Meanwhile, Florida’s DJ Lagway and South Carolina’s LaNorris Sellers provide nothing but high ceilings with dual-threat play.
Taylen Green rounds out the group with a strong body of work and he’s a dangerous fit within Arkansas’s offense.
#1 Garrett Nussmeier (LSU): Nussmeier slides in as the SEC’s most accomplished returning signal-caller.
After replacing Jayden Daniels, he threw for over 4,000 yards and 28+ touchdowns. Nussmeier is ranked first because of his command, willingness to take chances, and growth within Brian Kelly’s system.
In addition, LSU has an experienced supporting cast, which Nussmeier will utilize to lead a potent offense. He may stake a claim as a Heisman contender.
Productivity & experience: SEC-leading attempts, completions, and yardage in 2024.
Elite arm talent & playmaking: Ranked top-10 in big-time throws nationally.
Offensive continuity: Solidified command entering his fourth year in Kelly’s offense
#2 Arch Manning (Texas): Manning enters his first full season as the Texas starting QB after limited action in 2024.
He completed 73 of 112 attempts for 939 yards, 9 TDs, and only 2 INTs.
Despite a modest role, his pedigree, downfield accuracy, and athleticism show promise, even among the SEC’s elite. I predict a breakout year with Arch Manning running Steve Sarkisian’s quarterback-focused system.
Ceiling: Manning is projected to grow into one of the SEC’s top QBs due to raw talent .
Foundation & Support: Coaching, strong offensive line additions, and returning weapons on both sides of the ball.
Readiness: Manning has already shown composure and success stepping in mid-season.
#3 DJ Lagway (Florida): After stepping up as a freshman in 2024, Lagway delivered 1,915 yards and 12 touchdowns across seven games.
Known for a strong arm and mobility, he sparked a second-half turnaround for the Gators. Florida’s coaches have embraced his skillset entering year two.
Freshman breakout: Multiple 300-yard games early in career.
Potential: His physical gifts and arm strength make him a modern SEC prototype.
Momentum: Off‑season confidence from coaches, teammates, and fans .
#4 LaNorris Sellers (South Carolina): Sellers became a star as a dual-threat in 2024, finishing with 2,534 passing yards and 18 TDs, plus 674 rushing yards and 7 rushing TDs.
His leadership, athleticism, and steady improvement in crucial moments have consistently ranked him among the SEC’s top 2–4 QBs by multiple outlets.
Dual-threat capabilities: A real ground and air threat.
Rising trajectory: Showed consistent growth and poise.
Leadership: Enters 2025 as THE offensive centerpiece.
#5 Taylen Green (Arkansas): Wrapping out the top five is Green, the true dual-threat who threw for over 3,100 yards in 2024 while contributing significantly on the ground.
In a Petrino system built around his skillset, he has the experience and supporting cast to sharpen his consistency and cut turnovers.
Proven production: Second-year SEC starter with big passing and rushing numbers.
System fit: Well-suited to Arkansas’ offense.
Upside: If he minimizes mistakes, he could quietly ascend.
Quarterbacks to keep your eyes on: Diego Pavia (Vanderbilt), John Mateer (Oklahoma), Austin Simmons (Ole Miss) and Gunner Stockton (Georgia).
The SEC is breaking in several new quarterbacks with several Heisman conversations in the preseason. QB1 is the most important position, and playoff dreams depend on which quarterback shines the most.
QB-0
By: Colin Lacy
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Just a month ago we were talking about if it should be four or five teams from the Southeastern Conference in the first edition of the 12-team College Football Playoff.
This was also when the SEC was flocking to Atlanta for the SEC Championship game that has turned into a celebration of SEC Football in the heart of the peach state at Mercedez Benz Stadium.
Now the college football world returns to the Benz, but one thing is missing…the SEC.
Monday night will be the culmination of the 2024 college football season with the College Football Playoff National Championship Game between Ohio State and Notre Dame.
While the SEC did makeup a quarter of the inaugural twelve team field with Georgia (#2 seed), Texas (#5 seed), and Tennessee (#9 seed), the premier conference in college football combined for 2 wins in the bracket (both coming from Texas).
So, what have the two teams that will battle for the top spot in college football done to overpower the SEC?
Now most may say that that is an outlandish statement, but when you look at the bracket, Notre Dame and Ohio State combined to eliminate every SEC team in this field.
There is something about both of these two teams that stands out that was a glaring issue in the Southeastern Conference all season long. High-level quarterback play.
Both the Buckeyes and Irish have used the transfer portal in a big way, but especially at the signal-caller position.
After Sam Hartman made his way as an un-drafted free agent with the Commanders, Notre Dame went out and got a graduate transfer that had burst on the scene the last few years while piloting the Duke Blue Devils in Riley Leonard.
The Fairhope, Alabama native had last season cut short because of injury with the Blue Devils (coincidentally he was injured against Notre Dame) and has grown into Irish OC Mike Denbrock’s offense as the season has gone.
The Irish began the year with an impressive 23-13 victory in College Station against Texas A&M (again as coincidence would have it, against Leonard’s former Blue Devil Head Coach Mike Elko).
The following week would prove to be the low point in the season by falling to Northern Illinois 16-14. Since then, Leonard and the Irish have rattled off 13 straight wins including CFP wins over Georgia and Penn State. Leonard has thrown for over 2,600 yards and 19 passing touchdowns and adding 16 more scores on the ground.
On the flipside of the card, Ohio State has been steady (aside from the rivalry loss to Michigan at the end of November) with a 13-2 record this year behind another graduate transfer quarterback.
Much like Notre Dame, the Buckeyes have found success with Will Howard after transferring from Kansas State. Howard isn’t as mobile as Leonard but has dazzled the Big 10 Conference to the tune of just shy of 3,800 yards through the air and 33 touchdowns to only 10 interceptions.
Through the season names of Cam Ward, Jaxson Dart, and Carson Beck have dominated the “best quarterback in college football” conversation, but you’d be hard pressed to find a quarterback that has played better than either one of these field generals in Leonard and Howard, and I truly believe that is the reason the SEC isn’t represented in the biggest game on the college football schedule (and many are disappointed in the SEC showing in the CFP).
Quarterback play hasn’t been at the level that is has in the past. Many thought that Carson Beck for the Georgia Bulldogs was going to be a first-round pick entering the season.
As the weeks would play out, he would be good at times and show flashes, but never took the game to the next level which culminates in his transfer to Miami after he had declared for the NFL draft for a week.
Don’t get me wrong, there were good quarterbacks in the league. Jaxson Dart with Ole Miss had a good season in Oxford, Brady Cook at Missouri may have proven to be one of the most important players in the SEC to their team in the Mizzou performances when he was injured, and Nico Iamaleava (Tennessee) Jalen Milroe (Alabama) and Quinn Ewers (Texas) were all good, but nobody had the breakout season that “wow’ d” everyone.
Strangely the most impressive quarterback performance of the season may have come from Gainesville and DJ Lagway coming in as a true freshman, and after an injury to incumbent starter Graham Mertz, Lagway took the reins.
Granted there were some growing pains with Lagway, but by the end of the season, may have been the most impressive quarterback in the SEC.
All of that said, as strange as it feels to not have a SEC team playing for a championship on Monday IN ATLANTA, the finale of the CFP will showcase two pretty impressive offensive commanders for the Irish and Buckeyes.
From The Jump
By: Charlie Moon
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
I’m not crazy, but…..Pat McAfee (yes, the same one permeating ESPN now) and long-time sports radio legend Colin Cowherd, had a major role in the country in introducing college football in the South, as the dominating national force.
Let me reset it for you. An undefeated, #2-ranked West Virginia was hosting long-time NFL coach Dave Wannstedt’s 4-7 Pittsburgh Panthers. The Mountaineers were 28.5-point favorites. WVU’s Pat McAfee missed not one, but two field goals.
To be fair, it was under 30 degrees and very windy. Pitt ran the ball out of the back of their own end zone as time expired and won 13-9.
My brother, Chad and our friends were going crazy. We called our parents, who were at some loud party in Athens. Why? Because the Dawgs, ranked #3, were going be in the BCS Championship game!
Then….they weren’t. Why? Long story short, the Dawgs were jumped by Florida, pitted against the Buckeyes on January 8, 2007.
Some can argue it began way before that. But that was the defining moment when a 7-point favored mighty Ohio St was supposed to show the country the Big Ten ruled the country.
But then SEC power and speed was on display and the country got to see just what pundit Colin Cowherd had been saying for a decade on his then ESPN radio show.
He had been saying for a decade that the SEC was already better than everyone, by a mile – and it would start showing soon. Most folks just shewed him off like they do now. But the guy knows his stuff.
One particular show hinged on one aspect. To most football purists, it was the craziest thing they’d ever heard.
It made perfect sense to me, though. He was talking about how the 90s saw the birth of 7-on-7 off-season football tournaments, similar to what happened with AAU basketball, and what we now deem “travel ball.”
Football showcase camps were popping up nationwide, and where were most of those camps? Yep, you guessed it.
The South. After all, why would a kid want to go to a March showcase event in lovely, icy St. Paul, Minnesota? So…. more kids from all regions, were coming down South.
His next point had nothing to do with football, but it rang clear. He talked about more kids visiting colleges down South, during these camps, and what did they see?
I can almost remember his exact words, but for emphasis, let’s quote it anyway.
“Imagine a kid from Syracuse, New York coming down south and visiting a college campus in sunny Florida. What do you think he saw? Yep, the college co-eds. And what do you think he thought? Do I want to stay in cold Syracuse, or go where the campuses are filled with sun and gorgeous co-eds?”
I get it, there are many reasons why college football in the South has been great for so long, well before 2007. But Cowherd’s argument was nearly a decade ahead of its time. College football in the South had been better for a long time, but it hadn’t yet dominated on a national scale.
In that 2007 BCS Championship Game, it was clear. The Gators were bigger, stronger and the biggest factor???…..speed!
The speed difference wasn’t even close. Gator defensive lineman were chasing down speedy Ohio State QB Troy Smith and running backs in the backfield all night long. Ohio State receivers could never break away from Gator DBs.
Sure, this game wasn’t a 1-game tell-all. And Pat McAfee and Colin Cowherd surely didn’t invent football in the south.
But they both had a say in what might be the turning point of the southern college football show on display for the country.
SEC Dominance
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Kirby Smart wrapped up practice Tuesday at The University of Georgia. The College Football Playoff rankings just released, naturally interviewers asked Smart if the expanding field to 12 this year changed his curiosity.
“I could care less,” Smart said. “Because what is a quality win and a quality loss right now; they’ve been known to change their mind before it comes.”
The format may be different and the field may be bigger, but Georgia has experienced this before. Texas did last year. Tennessee did two years ago. Alabama and LSU have plenty of experience with it. At this point, everyone knows the deal by now.
Smart and SEC commissioner Greg Sankey may not love Georgia’s rank at third, behind two Big Ten teams, while the Bulldogs are second in the AP and coaches polls.
There are seven SEC teams in the top 25, by far the most of any conference (in second place: the Big Ten. With four). That’s an important note for a couple of reasons:
With four in the top 12 (Georgia, Texas, Tennessee, Alabama) and a few in striking distance (No. 14 Texas A&M, No. 15 LSU, No. 16 Ole Miss), this sets up more SEC teams to make the playoffs in the future.
Second, more SEC teams will have more chances for ranked wins, or their ranked losses might not seem as bad to the rankings.
Georgia bought itself a lot of room with its win at Texas, giving it a second ranked win, and its only loss came at Alabama. It would seem the Bulldogs need only get a split of the next two games at Ole Miss and Tennessee and they would be in. Even if UGA lost both games, they would have an argument.
Texas and Tennessee also have one loss but a little less leeway.
Texas is clearly in if they win out, although losing at Texas A&M in the regular-season finale would make things dicey.
The Longhorns don’t have a win over any team in the Top 25. Vanderbilt, ranked in the AP, didn’t make the CFP rankings.
Tennessee is all set if they win out because an 11-1 record with a win at Georgia is a strong argument.
If The Vols are competitive at Georgia and lose, 10-2 with two road losses but a win against Alabama may be enough to get it done. Of course, the regular-season finale at Vanderbilt isn’t a sure win.
Texas A&M, meanwhile, is not in the field right now — 14th — but the assignment seems straightforward: Win out, including the Texas game, and the Aggies are close enough to feel good about their chances.
Important caveat: winning out is no guarantee; it depends heavily on what happens elsewhere. As Smart pointed out, the committee is known to change their mind.
Alabama at LSU this week: The loser has a third loss, which puts its Playoff hopes to sleep, while the winner is in great shape. But is the loser truly done and the winner truly in?
Alabama would have three losses to ranked teams LSU, Tennessee and Vanderbilt, if it could sneak into the CFP Top 25 with one ranked win (Georgia) and some others that might check off as good.
LSU may need this win more. It has a loss to unranked USC and the other to Texas A&M. Their best win right now is against Ole Miss.
Then there’s Ole Miss, which is almost certainly done if it loses to Georgia this week. But if Ole Miss wins, that would give it something a ranked win and winning out would mean a 10-2 record.
Still, it has a home loss to Kentucky, and other than the Georgia game, there isn’t much impressive on the resume. So, Lane Kiffin’s team would seem at the mercy of the committee and things falling its way elsewhere.
There are so many important games left and too many data points left to draw any grand conclusions. Nobody from the SEC is definitely in yet, and seven teams still have a realistic shot.
That number figures to go down after this weekend. The question is whether it continues going down over the coming weeks or the SEC ends up with a half-dozen candidates for only so many spots.
