SEC Revival

by Brendan Paschal

The 2018 season will be the revival of the SEC – returning to the most dominant power 5 conference. I’m talking 2000s dominant. Some of you might argue and say that the SEC hasn’t gone anywhere. After all, the National Championship was an all SEC one. The only conference ever to have, not one, but two teams in the playoff. Yet, deep down inside SEC fans know that it hasn’t been the same for a while now.

For the past several years it has been all about Alabama. They cripple opponents, destroy seasons, and even when they lose, they still find a way to win. Teams like LSU, Tennessee, and Florida no longer contend for the SEC Championship like they used to. 14 weeks in Autumn doesn’t hold the same anxiety and excitement for SEC fans. At the end of the day, fans know that Cinderella is only a fairy tale. Jim McElwain, Butch Jones, Kevin Sumlin, and Bret Bilema are actually not our Prince Charming’s…

But fear not my desperate SEC fans. A new era is upon us!

These past several years the SEC has seen an absurd turnover at the head coaching position. Arkansas hired Chad Morris. Kirby Smart enters his third season at Georgia. Along with Rajun Cajun who also enters his third year at LSU. Joe Moorehead now wakes up to cowbells in Starkville. Matt Luke didn’t run away screaming from Oxford after last season, which is encouraging for Ole Miss fans. Will Muschamp brings hope to fans in Columbia after Spurrier peaced out in 2015. Jerremy Pruitt seems to be the only stable thing in Knoxville. And Jimbo Fisher enters College Station for his first season.

All in all, nine out of the fourteen schools in the SEC have a coach who has been there for less than three seasons. Why is this a good thing? Because it finally seems that each and every school has a coach that fits their program. Every coach that was recently hired is successful in areas where their predecessor failed. For example, Chad Morris can recruit out of Texas, Dan Mullen is an excellent on the field coach, and Matt Luke can keep it in his pants, (we think).

Image from the Oxford Eagle

A couple of years ago I wrote a piece titled Why Bama is Bad for the SEC. One of my arguments was that they destroy seasons. Teams were giving everything they had against the Tide leaving players exhausted, often injured, and defeated. After playing Alabama team’s seasons no longer mattered, since they weren’t going to make it to the SEC Championship. There was no hope.

Now there is. Alabama’s dynasty has new challengers, more worthy than in years past. Florida, South Carolina, Georgia, and Tennessee will suddenly all be competing for the East. Texas A&M, Auburn, LSU, Mississippi State, and Arkansas will be gunning for Alabama in the West. Saturdays will no longer be for the boys, but for men in the SEC. Schools like Missouri, Kentucky, and and Vanderbilt will have a chance to ruin seasons, because lets be honest, they’re okay with mediocrity.

Mark. My. Words. The Big Ten had their fifteen seconds of fame. The ACC will have a handful of exciting teams. But no conference will have more Top 25 schools than the SEC. Sure, it might not be this season, or even the next. But, once these coaches begin starting their own recruits the SEC will return to their rightful throne as the king of college football.

Ed Orgeron said it best.