The Southeastern Conference
is the first in the nation since the inception of the College Football Playoff
to have two teams play for a National Championship after the Crimson Tide’s
24-6 victory over Clemson and the Jawja Bulldawg’s 54-48 double-overtime
thriller against the Sooners.
I remember back on
August 18, 2017 when some jackleg over at CBS Sports claimed the SEC was no
longer the top conference. Chip
Patterson noted:
“There is always a lot of crowing about conference
supremacy during media days. Whichever league finished the previous season with
the most trophies puts them on display and has the chance to use its time at
the microphone to fill the empty July news cycle with flattering stories and
headlines.”
“The final years of the pre-College Football Playoff era
were owned by the SEC. Not only did the SEC run off seven straight national
titles, but it also recruited Missouri and Texas A&M from the Big 12 and
inked a 20-year deal for a cable network. When Florida State bested Auburn in
the final BCS Championship Game and Ohio State bounced Alabama from the first
CFP, the perception of conference power shifted ever so slightly to entertain,
for the first time since the early 2000s, that maybe another league could claim
to be the best in college football.”
“With the top spot up for grabs, the ACC's coaches were
more than happy to claim it for themselves after Clemson's national
championship, Florida State's Orange Bowl win and Lamar Jackson's Heisman
Trophy run headlined the most successful college football season in league history.”
CBS ranked the ACC No.
1 with the SEC behind it at No. 2. The Big Ten, Big 12 and Pac-12 followed to
round out the Top 5.
And yet, here we
are. All the other conferences have been
vanquished. The SEC West meets the SEC
East to decide who will be crowned king at the Mercedes Benz Stadium in
Atlanta.
The series history
between these two schools is 38-4-25.
Alabama leads the series. Bama
defeated the Bulldogs 32-28 in the 2012 SEC Championship Game. The next time the Tide would battle the Dawgs
was during the regular season in 2015.
They came away with a 38-10 victory followed one month later by the
school firing Head Coach Mark Richt.
The SEC celebrates
itself like no other which thoroughly infuriates fans in other conferences. SEC teams have played for the college
football national championship in 12 of the last 15 years.
Many have pointed to Coach
Saban’s amazing 11-0 record against his former assistants in their new head
coaching positions. Many have called attention
to his chances of tying the legendary Paul “Bear” Bryant’s record of national
championships. All of that is
interesting chit-chat. But that’s all it
is. Vegas has the Dawgs as a 3-point
underdog. ESPN’s Matchup Predictor gives
Bama a 57.5% chance of victory.
The game tonight features
a pair of one-loss teams that arrived at the title game following two
distinctly different paths. Their paths have converged and all that remains is
for the young men who have fought tooth and nail all season to dig deep into
their psyches and muster the pride and courage to win.
I was born and raised a
Southerner. I’m damned proud of
that. I’m damned proud of Georgia and
Alabama. The BCS was created to keep the
SEC out of contention for a national championship and when that didn’t pan out
the BCS was ditched for the CFB. Like it
or not the strategy didn’t work. Nick
Saban and Kirby Smart are both good men leading equally excellent football
programs.
I believe my beloved
Crimson Tide will win tonight. That is
something I fervently pray for, however if Georgia wins I will congratulate their
fans and thank them for elevating the SEC to undeniable dominance.
ROLL
TIDE ROLL!
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please scribble on my walls otherwise how will I know what you think, but please don’t try spamming me or you’ll earn a quick trip to the spam filter where you will remain—cold, frightened and all alone.