The SEC dynasty collapsed: What comes next?

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The mighty SEC has literally fallen and can’t get up.

With South Carolina’s loss to UCLA in Sunday’s Women’s Final Four title game, this marks the first time in nine years an SEC team did not win a national championship in either football or men’s or women’s basketball. These things are “cyclical,” but this recent cycle – no matter how you spin it – has not been great.

Especially in the sport that really, really does Just Mean More to the SEC.

A few months ago, the SEC experienced a brutal bowl season. Before inserting your “who cares about meaningless bowl games (unless you win)” hot take, the SEC’s 2-8 bowl record, excluding two SEC vs. SEC playoff games, was not only the worst in league history, but the SEC was favored to win seven of the 10 games.

What’s more troubling is the SEC’s lack of success in the playoffs, having gone three years without a national football championship. For most leagues, a three-year national title drought is no cause for concern. But not the SEC.

It’s been nearly 25 years since the SEC has gone three consecutive seasons without winning or even playing for a national title in football. That was a four-year stretch from 1999-2002 when there were no SEC teams in the BCS title games: Florida State defeated Virginia Tech in 1999, Oklahoma defeated Florida State in 2000, Miami defeated Nebraska in 2001 and Ohio State defeated Miami in 2002.

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Former LSU coach Ed Orgeron, on the Bussin’ With The Boys podcast in December, said the biggest difference in the SEC was the creation of NIL. “Back then, we used to walk through the back door with the cash,” Orgeron said. “Now, we just gotta walk through the front door with the cash.”

Besides the start of NIL in 2021, Saban, who won six national titles at Alabama, retired in 2022. With NIL leveling the playing field, perhaps the success of the greatest college coach of all-time also may have contributed to the league’s recent dip.

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