As they say, all good things come to an end

2,915.

That is the number of days that the SEC dominated college football.

We all know that for the past few years, ESPN and other media outlets have been accused of being biased, because they have been telling the entire country what we in the South have grown up knowing. The very best football is played below the Mason-Dixon Line.

National confirmation of this fact began back in 2006.

Ohio State was undefeated and playing their biggest rival, Michigan. The Wolverines were ranked number two, and the winner of the game would secure a spot in the BCS title game. Ohio State won a thrilling game, and afterwards, there was much discussion about whether or not there should be a rematch for the BCS title. Clearly, these were the two best teams in the country, so why even allow another team  an opportunity to challenge the Buckeyes for the title?

Florida won the SEC title game over Arkansas, and that win helped the Gators move past Michigan in the final BCS rankings by a margin of .0101 points.

It was just a formality anyway; Ohio State was clearly the best team in the country.

When Ted Ginn Jr. returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown, it seemed that the Buckeyes would run the Gators off the field.

But things would change after the opening kick. Florida dominated the game on both lines of scrimmage and took a 34-14 lead into half time. The final score was a shocking 41-14, with the Gators defense holding the vaunted Ohio State offense, which averaged 36.3 points per game, to only one offensive touchdown.

That was January 8, 2007. It was my 22 birthday, and the birthday of SEC dominance.

One year later, there was total chaos in the BCS.

Going into the final week of the season, Missouri was ranked number one and West Virginia was ranked number two.

The Tigers fell to Oklahoma in the Big 12 title game, while West Virginia inexplicably fell to rival Pittsburgh in their final game of the season. Number three Ohio State moved up to number one, but there was much debate about who would be number two.

Heading into the SEC title game, LSU was ranked 7^th in the BCS. On the morning of the title game, ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreet reported that Tigers’ coach Les Miles would be leaving Baton Rouge after the SEC title game to become the next head coach at Michigan. Miles held an impromptu press conference to announce that he was not interested in any other job than coaching his team, and told everyone to have a great day (Google it, it’s worth a Google).

His Tigers won the SEC that day, and with all the other chaos that happened around the country, LSU managed to sneak into the number two spot to face Ohio State.

While the 2007 National title game was closer than the 2006 edition, the result was the same. LSU beat Ohio State 38-24.

The result of the consecutive losses was that Ohio State, and the Big 10 in general, were written off as second rate. The conference was too old school, too slow, and not talented enough to compete with the bigger, stronger, and faster players from the SEC. Who wants to play in the cold weather anyway? All of those narratives were the direct result of the Buckeyes dropping two straight BCS title games.

With the Big 10 out of the way, the SEC turned its attention to the Big 12.

In 2008, the Gators were back in the title game, this time, facing off with “Big Game” Bob Stoops and the Oklahoma Sooners. A year earlier, “Big Game” and his boys has dropped the Fiesta Bowl to Boise State, but they were back and ranked number one behind quarterback Sam Bradford.

Although the Sooners were ranked higher, the Gators were favored to win the game by 5.5 points.

The game was close, but a late touchdown gave the Gators a ten point victory, their second title in three years, and the SEC’s third consecutive national championship.

In 2009, it was the SEC v. the Big 12 again as Alabama and Texas squared off in for the title in the Rose Bowl. Both teams were undefeated, and with two of the biggest programs in college football history squaring off, the title game was sure to be one of the greatest games of all time.

We will never know how this game would have turned out without Colt McCoy’s injury. The Longhorns’ quarterback was taken off the field after Texas’ fifth offensive play, and never returned. Alabama would take advantage and led 24-6 at half time. The Tide rolled in the second half and finished off the game 37-21 for their first national title since 1992. For the SEC, it was four in a row.

Now, it was official. The SEC was the King of college football. Alabama was rolling, LSU was a perennial power, and the Auburn Tigers had a new quarterback transferring in from a junior college.

Cam Newton led Auburn to the 2010 title game amidst a ton of controversy. The Tigers would square off with Oregon. The Ducks’ were the last hope for the rest of the country. Chip Kelley’s team featured an up-tempo offense that was sure to challenge the defensive speed of the SEC, which had been the difference in the previous title games.

The game itself was ugly. I would ranked this game as the second worst BCS title game in history, just behind the Oklahoma/Florida State snooze fest of 2000. For two teams that had explosive offenses, 41 combined points was a huge disappointment.

Auburn won the game on a last-second field goal 22-19.

Despite the quality of the game, or the margin of victory, the SEC’s reputation only grew with Auburn’s win. The Tigers were the fourth different team to win a title during the five year BCS title streak.  Now, fans of other SEC schools (myself included) began rooting for their team during the regular season, and the conference during the post-season, assuming that one day the conference’s reputation would help their team win a title.

If there was any question about the national reputation of the conference, and the power that reputation held, it was made clear in 2011. For the first and only time in the history of the BCS, two teams from the same conference played in the national title game.

LSU had beaten Alabama 9-6 during the regular season, but the two teams were still seen as the best in college football by the end of the season. LSU was ranked number one, but the Tide dominated the game winning 21-0.

The streak was guaranteed to reach six, but at least the rest of the country could take solace in the fact that for the first time in BCS history, an SEC school lost the BCS title game. Of course, only another SEC team could make that happen.

With the Big 10, Big 12, and Pac 10 all learning the hard way that the SEC could not be stopped, it was time for Mr. Independent, Notre Dame to take its shot at the king of college football. Despite the Irish being undefeated and ranked number one, Alabama was favored by 10 points.

The Tide put on a performance for the ages against an Irish defense that ended up being as legitimate as Manti Te’o’s girlfriend. It was 35-0 at one point in the second half, and the game ended 42-14.

The SEC had won seven BCS titles in a row, and Alabama had won 3 of the last 4 national titles. Nick Saban and the Tide were the preeminent program in college football, and with the top recruiting class in the country year after year, it seemed that the Tide, and by extension, the SEC would continue its historic run.

Kick Six.

Auburn would put an end to Alabama’s quest for a third straight title in the most dramatic way imaginable. When good ole’ Ohio State managed to choke against Michigan State in the Big 10 title game, the door was opened for Auburn to get into the last BCS title game and the streak could live on.

Despite leading big early in the game, Auburn would give up 21 points in the fourth quarter, including a touchdown with 13 seconds remaining to lose to Florida State 34-31. The streak was over, but the narrative of SEC dominance remained.

It was a southern school, Florida State, that had finally beaten the SEC. The Noles were practically an SEC school playing in the ACC. The SEC still dominated in recruiting, and with the College Football Playoff starting in 2014, the SEC would get a chance to prove on the field, where their reputation was made, that they were consistently the best in college football.

Coming into the 2014 season, the question was not if the SEC would get a team in the college football playoff, it was how many of the four spots would go to SEC schools.

As the season played out, it was obvious that the SEC was, once again, at the top of college football. The fact that two schools from Mississippi were dominating the SEC was even further evidence to prove the point that the SEC was king. The SEC West was the best division in football, much better than the NFL’s NFC South.

Alabama beat Mississippi State in November to move to the top spot in the college football playoff rankings, and they would hold that spot for the rest of the season. Alabama had played well since losing to Mississippi, but there was no doubt, that this Alabama team was not on the same level as the title teams that had come before it.

There was considerable criticism that the SEC East was as bad as it had ever been with Florida, Tennessee, and South Carolina all struggling and the return to form of Vanderbilt, who had become a legitimate team under James Franklin.  However, the depth of the conference was proven in that 12 of the conferences 14 teams qualified for a bowl game, including the entire SEC West.

South Carolina, Texas A&M, and Arkansas all won their bowl games, and it seemed like the SEC was on its way to winning 9 or even 10 of their 12 bowl games in 2014. Even when Notre Dame beat LSU, it said more about the Tigers’ fall from the ranks of the elite than it did about the conference. Georgia got the conference back on the right track by dismissing Louisville in the Belk Bowl, so things were looking up leading into the inaugural New Year’s Six games.

Then it all fell apart.

TCU embarrassed Ole Miss in the Peach Bowl and Tech ran all over Mississippi State in the Orange Bowl. To say that the last day of 2014 was a setback for the SEC, and more importantly for the State of Mississippi, would be an understatement.

At one point this season, it was conceivable to say that the two best teams in the country were Ole Miss and Mississippi State. The Bulldogs managed to stay at the top spot into November when they lost to Alabama on the road, and if they could have won the Egg Bowl, they would have had a great argument for getting the fourth spot in the College Football Playoff.

This season was shaping up to be the best season for Ole Miss since Archie Manning was at quarterback in Oxford, and this was, without a doubt, the greatest season in the history of Mississippi State football.

At least that was what it could have been. Both teams were embarrassed in games watched by the entire country, staining their seasons.

Going into New Year’s Day there were a couple of games in which SEC teams were favored, but the only game that was going to matter was the Sugar Bowl. Auburn losing to Wisconsin didn’t matter. No one in the world, outside of Wisconsin, cares about Wisconsin. This Auburn team was significantly worse than the Auburn team of 2013, and even though Auburn played for the title in 2013, they were two of the most improbable plays you will ever see away from being 9-3 and playing in the Outback Bowl, probably against Wisconsin.

After watching Oregon dismantle Florida State, I was trying to force myself to stay up and watch the Sugar Bowl. A 9pm kickoff is not my idea of fun. As the game began, it looked exactly like you thought it would. Alabama was playing well on offense and defense, and it seemed like Ohio State was outmatched. Even with the end of the first half leaving the Buckeyes within striking distance, you never actually expected Ohio State to be able to out-play or out-coach Alabama, but that was exactly what happened.

Ohio State stood up, and went toe-to-toe with the SEC’s standard bearer for the entire second half. The Buckeyes made big play after big play, and the Tide didn’t seem to have a response. The offense that had carried them all season, abandoned the run in the second half when there was no reason in the world to do so, and Blake Sims played like he did in the first half against Auburn.

When Sims’ Hail Mary into the end zone was picked off, giving the Buckeyes the win, that was the exact moment when the SEC’s reign ended.

Sometimes in sports, and in life, you can step back and see the entire picture and it makes sense. The SEC rose to national power on the back of two resounding victories over Ohio State. The SEC became mortal again by losing to a re-vamped Ohio State that hired a coach with SEC experience and dedicated itself to changing the way they played football, with the sole purpose of competing with the SEC.

For fans of the SEC who believe that this was just a hiccup, and that next season, everything will go back to normal, you couldn’t be more wrong. Yes, the SEC will win national championships again, maybe even next season, but there will never be another streak like the one we saw from 2006-2013.

More importantly, the stigma that the SEC is head and shoulders better than everyone else is gone, and that was much more powerful than the streak of championships. Now, when teams are playing a team from the SEC, they will be thinking that they can be the next TCU or Wisconsin (I’m just kidding, no one will want to be Wisconsin).

Go back to the end of the season, Florida State beat Florida. Clemson beat South Carolina. Tech beat Georgia. Louisville beat Kentucky. The cracks were showing far before bowl season began.

There is a ton of talent in the SEC, and next season, Alabama, Georgia, LSU, Auburn, and Tennessee will all be poised and positioned to have really strong teams, but you know who else is going to be good? Oregon, Ohio State, Penn State, Florida State, TCU, and as much as it pains me to say it, Tech.

Tomorrow night, we will see the first National title game since January of 2006 involving no SEC teams. The 2006 Rose Bowl was the greatest national championship game of the BCS era (beating out the 2003 Fiesta Bowl because there was no ref throwing a flag after the game was over, which restarted the game, and ultimately cost one team a title). Texas won, with Vince Young, coming from behind to beat USC, who had been the dominant team for the first half of the 2000’s. I know I will be watching tomorrow night, and I’m hoping for a classic. I don’t care who wins, but I can already tell you who lost.

The Southeastern Conference.

Playoff Injustice

For weeks, Florida State fans have howled as the playoff committee has continued to drop the Noles after unimpressive performances. However, FSU is still in the playoff each and every week, and with the win over Georgia Tech in the ACC title game, Florida State will be in the top four tomorrow afternoon when the rankings are revealed.

So what if Florida State is 3 instead of 2 or 1, they are in the playoff, and if they are as good as they think they are, then they can win two games and win their second straight national title.

There is a team that is on the brink of being left out that will have a huge argument: Baylor.

Now I don't care at all about the Big 12, which only has 10 teams and plays no conference title game. I don't think the conference is that good. However, Baylor is 11-1 this season and will share the Big 12 title with TCU. Baylor will win the tie-breaker with the Horned Frogs because of their head to head victory over TCU earlier this season, but unless the playoff committee does something dramatic tomorrow morning, the Bears will not be in the Final Four.

Coming into this week, TCU was ranked #3 and Baylor was ranked #6. With no significant upsets on Championship weekend, it seems unlikely that the committee's opinion of Baylor will change dramatically enough to correct this error.

The committee could chicken out of this debate and simply give the number 4 spot in the playoff to Ohio State, who won the Big 10 Championship in convincing fashion over Wisconsin. In that scenario, Alabama and Ohio State would meet in the Sugar Bowl, while FSU and Oregon would face off in the Rose Bowl and both Big 12 schools would be left out of the playoff.

Before the season started, all we heard about was that the committee was going to place a high value on head to head meetings and winning your conference, but in their first attempt at creating a legitimate college football playoff, the committee seems to be abandoning their own criteria.

A week after coming back from a 24 point fourth quarter deficit to beat TCU, Baylor lost on the road to West Virginia. While West Virginia might not be the best team in the country, they are a solid football team who is tough to beat at home. There is no way that you could argue that loss is so bad that it should negate the head to head victory that Baylor holds over TCU.

If you want to talk about bad losses, Ohio State has by far the worst loss of any of the contenders when they lost at home to a bad Virginia Tech team early in the season.

I think the problem with this process has been the week to week rankings. The committee has been forced to give you their stream of consciousness thoughts on the season, before there is complete picture to look at. If the committee decides that Baylor's victory over Kansas State in the final game of the season makes their body of work stronger than TCU, they not only have to drop TCU who won 55-3 and did nothing wrong as the number three team in the country, but they have to move Baylor above Ohio State who won the Big 10 title game 45-0. In this scenario, both Ohio State and TCU would feel like they got shafted.

I think it would just be better if the committee came out at the end of the season and said here are your four teams, have a great Christmas. Of course, that would mean that ESPN wouldn't have their weekly show that creates so much hype and conversation for their network.

Tomorrow is going to be an interesting day. I said at the beginning of the season that this would be the hardest task for the committee because they were basically making things up as they went.

Here is how I think it will play out. I think the committee will keep everything exactly like they had it on Tuesday. They really seem to want FSU and Alabama to meet in New Orleans which would put Oregon and TCU playing in the Rose Bowl.

The committee would probably match up Ohio State and TCU in the Fiesta Bowl in a consolation game.

The sport and ESPN is going to get what they want either way, we are going to spend the next week discussing what happens tomorrow at 12:30 pm.

An all too familiar feeling...

The morning after is always the worst. I know this because I have felt it, just like all Georgia fans have, too many times now.

This morning is when the reality sets in, and the full feeling of regret manifests itself. During the game, you can just be angry. You can yell at the television. You can explain how what you are seeing makes no sense whatsoever. Today, there is no one to yell at. Today we are left alone, with our thoughts.

Yesterday’s loss was inexcusable. There was no aspect of the team that played well. Offensively, Georgia started out great, but eventually we saw the downside of the injuries that Georgia has sustained. I am not criticizing Nick Chubb, but he is limited in what he can do, and the better defenses are going to be able to at least neutralize one aspect of your offense. Georgia, without another legitimate running back, is going to be good on the ground, but not good enough to win big games.

Georgia’s passing attack was what it has been all season. Anyone that criticizes Hutson Mason after yesterday’s game is just being lazy. Mason was not the problem yesterday. He made a couple of good throws and he made a few questionable decisions. His receivers didn’t help him at all. There were a couple of drops and the offensive line didn’t play nearly as well as they have for the majority of the season.

The biggest disappointment, in a day that was overwhelmingly disappointing, was the complete and total failure of Georgia’s defense to stop a one-dimensional offense. After trending up for the majority of the season, the defense is absolutely no where now. There is no reason to think that Auburn won’t put a thousand points on Georgia if the Dawgs can't stop simple run plays. Nothing Florida was doing yesterday was fancy, and many times, there was a player at the point of attack that had an opportunity to make a play, and time and time again, Georgia failed to make plays. Pruitt has to be held accountable for not being able to coach up his players to stop what Florida was doing, but at the end of the day; the players have to get it done.

The next step is looking at the rest of the season.  Just like the loss to South Carolina, this loss will feel worse and worse as Georgia progresses. This will most likely be a stark wakeup call for this team, and I would expect a great performance against Kentucky next weekend. Then Auburn will come calling and Gurley will be back. Georgia needs a Missouri loss to be back in the driver’s seat in the SEC East, so there will be some scoreboard watching over the next few weeks.

The playoff and the national title, which were a long shot, are now out of reach in any realistic scenario. Anarchy could reign, like it did in 2007, and Georgia could find their way back into the discussion, but there are about 10 things that would have to happen just right for that to happen.

I think it is time to start thinking about next year. No matter what happens, Georgia will have a new quarterback next season. Hutson Mason is a senior, and it is time for Georgia to consider moving on to Brice Ramsey. Ramsey seems to have a live arm, and the only way for him to get better is going to be playing in big games now. Mason isn’t winning games by himself, so what would Georgia lose by trying to give a few series a game to Ramsey?

The rest of the season should just be about improving. We need to get Sony Michel back on the field. I want to see what it looks like with just Michel and Chubb leading things in the backfield. I want to see more inclusion of Isaiah McKenzie in the offense. Early in the season, there were dynamic plays each week using McKenzie as a decoy and sometimes running him on the Jet-sweep. We also need to see the defense have a strong finish. I think Pruitt is a great coach and it would be silly to think that he has been able to already get his players working in his system without flaws, so we need to make sure that things are heading in the right direction going into bowl practice.

Earlier in the week, I said that losing to Florida would be the worst loss for the Dawgs since the early ‘80s. I think we will remember this game right along with the loss to South Carolina in 2012, the Bama Blackout in 2008, the loss to Tennessee in Knoxville in 2007, the loss to Florida in 2005, the home loss to Tennessee in 2004, and the loss to another bad Florida team in 2002. Each and every one of those games make me shake my head when I think about them, and after I finally get over the sick feeling in my stomach, I’ll be shaking my head about yesterday’s game for years to come.

Try to enjoy the rest of the weekend, and try not to think about football for a few days. We will turn the page to Kentucky on Wednesday, but let’s just get away from it all for a few days.