I can’t help but think we saw the best team in the nation in the SEC Championship Game on Saturday. And, yes, I’m aware of what happened in the Big Ten championship game.
Texas came into championship weekend with the highest College Football Power Index in the nation. The Longhorns were No. 1, ahead of Notre Dame, Ohio State, Alabama and Georgia. That sounds good, but here’s the problem: The Longhorns have only lost twice this season, and they fell victim to the same foe.
Georgia beat Texas 30-15 in Austin in October, then again in the SEC Championship Game 22-19 on Saturday. In other words, Georgia has beaten the Longhorns at home and, more recently, with one arm tied behind their back.
Reviews are mixed on Carson Beck. However, he had certainly been playing much better lately. When he was knocked from the game late in the second quarter, there was every reason to think Texas could take control. They didn’t.
Georgia’s dominance of the Longhorns when both teams knew what was on the line in two games this season is quite telling. Georgia is just plain better than Texas. Georgia may also be just plain better than every other team that will be included in the inaugural, 12-team College Football Playoff.
I’m well aware that Oregon is ranked No. 1 in the College Football Playoff, followed by Texas, who will drop after losing to the Bulldogs, Penn State, who will drop after losing to the Ducks in the Big Ten Championship Game and Notre Dame, but let’s be honest. There is every reason to think that this could be the Bulldogs’ year. Again.
First, I’ll believe a west coast team, even though it’s in the Big Ten, will beat an SEC team when I see it and not a waddle before. Second, Notre Dame’s schedule is atrocious. The Irish lost to Northern Illinois. Certainly, the Fighting Irish deserve some credit for beating Texas A&M in the season opener, but the Aggies were still breaking in a new coach at the time and finished the season 8-4. That’s a quality win, but certainly not anything to brag about for a team that aspires to win a national championship.
Georgia’s season, and Alabama for that matter, are proof to me that the best football is still played in the SEC. Why? Because that’s where the big athletes that can move are most often located. Oregon can convince some of those “big nasties” to head west, but not nearly enough.
Tennessee is a great example. They have second-string defensive linemen that could start for Oregon, especially when a game comes down to a battle in the trenches. Needless to say, so does Georgia.
NIL might save the Ducks one day, but I doubt it. As the NIL payments even out, the “big nasties” will still stay close to home. That’s why teams from the south have won eight of the last nine national championships. Thanks, in part, to some deft sign-stealing manuevers, Michigan won the national championship last season. Programs like Michigan and others from the Big Ten, like Ohio State in 2014, can load up on a season and win a natty, but that’s not going to be the norm.
Schools from the southeast – and I’m not including Texas – have won 17 of the last 19 national championships in college football. That could make the postseason easier for southern teams than the gauntlet they have to run during the regular season.
Tennessee’s path will probably begin in Columbus, Ohio when the College Football Playoff bracket is announced. However, I’m not putting anything past the committee until I see their final say. But I don’t really need that. It’s pretty obvious that the SEC, with or without Texas, has a geographic advantage thanks to the passionate athletes that grow in the south.
I’m sure Ohio State has advantages over Tennessee is some areas. A team doesn’t get to the Buckeyes’ level without having some players, but a team doesn’t advance without the “big nasties.”
I can’t possibly imagine how that might change. Sure, coaches nationwide can focus on the south and likely land a recruit or two that fits the “big nasty” mode. We’ll see. Nevertheless, they’re not going to have the depth of “big nasties” that teams in the south, like Tennessee, have when they’re at their best.
For now, it seems pretty obvious that the best team in the nation is Georgia, and teams from the south will rule college football until something changes dramatically. Let the College Football Playoff determine things, but a Final Four of southern teams from year-to-year wouldn’t surprise me at all.
