By: Robert Craft

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

The shots came from the north, the west and all over social media: The vaunted SEC, dominator of college football, had been humbled.

Michigan player Braiden McGcegor spoke for many: “In the SEC they say it just means more. That should be ours now.” Somewhere commissioner Greg Sankey read that and grimaced.

For the first time in nine years the SEC will not be represented in the national championship game. There’s a cruel irony in that for Sankey, who helped usher in the 12-team College Football Playoff despite his conference dominating the four-team era.

Why change a beneficial status quo? Because Sankey knew college football would be better if more regions and more conferences were invested and engaged. Sankey also wanted expansion this year, which, should it have happened, would have created an opening for at least one more of his teams to make a run.

Ah, well, a good humbling every now and then is healthy in the long run. The SEC sees clearly that it is in an even competition with the newly constituted Big Ten. But it’s also not a dire picture: Alabama losing to Michigan in overtime on a neutral field is not itself a confirmation of inferiority for SEC detractors.

Vice versa, Tennessee stomping Iowa and Missouri beating Ohio State are also not satisfactory evidence of total conference superiority for SEC defenders because well, bowl games in this era.

It’s just a kick in the butt collectively to the SEC to know it is no longer just in competition with itself. That change can be good. It can be fun.

But this edition of the vibes doesn’t look back. It looks forward, which is why it includes the two coming entrants to the league.

And the vibes, for those whom may be new or forgetful, are not a pure ranking from best to worst; it’s who’s feeling the best to who’s feeling the worst which is why these rankings will look funky.

This takes into account expectations, performance, and just generally the optimism, or lack thereof, heading into the 2024 season.

Even when I adjust for the normal postseason optimism, a look at the top of the SEC shows this is still going to be the best  conference, but the Big Ten is not that far behind.

The SECs tagline of “it just means more” carries a little more weight now, as the additions of Texas and Oklahoma make the league a super conference in 2024.

I feel good about 4 to 5 SEC teams’ chances of making it into a 12-team playoff next season.

The SEC will not play for this year’s championship but they are still the top conference in college football.