AUTiger789

quote:

---

I mean, it is the same, but you want to create subjective guidelines.

---

It's not the same. If you start allowing teams to take 5-year gaps between conference titles, this entire list likely doubles. That's the whole point.

quote:

---

Same thing with Auburn in 1914. Tennessee won it Tennessee went 6-0 in conference Auburn went 4-0-1 in conference

---

Wrong. Sportswriters voted on the champions those years and both Auburn and Tennessee were awarded the 1914 championship.

LINK

quote:

---

They didn't lose a single SEC or regular-season game for 3 years. The only thing that stopped their run was that Neyland had to go to war. So this was more than a "solid" run.

---

Right. So again, a 3-year run. We're talking about runs lasting twice that long or longer.

quote:

---

Neyland was gone from 1941 to 1945. During that time, Tennessee finished ranked every year and won (.846) of their games. So while we didn't win the conference, we were still a premier program, missing our legendary coach. The year Neyland came back, we won the SEC in 1946.

---

Correct. But he left in 1935 and Tennessee finishes 2-3 in SEC play. Came back and had a strong 1936-1940, but then left again. Yes TN stayed fairly good but they did miss winning any titles.

quote:

---

Tennessee (1938-1946)

---

I just don't think you can honestly lump 1946 in with those others when UT went 5 consecutive seasons in the middle with zero conference titles including a season they didn't even field a team. This is just not at all the same.

1938-1960 was truly one of the most parity-ruled eras of SEC football with 10 different schools taking home an SEC Championship.. and Tennessee, Auburn, and LSU taking home AP National Championships. Ole Miss Georgia, Bama, and Kentucky all claim a title during this era I believe.

quote:

---

I understand your parameters, but Tennessee from 1938-1940 absolutely deserves to be there.

---

It was a solid 3-year run. I just don't think a 3-year run is long enough to establish a reputation as King, Dynasty, or whatever you want to call it.

Ole Miss won 3 SEC titles from 1960-1963.
Georgia won 3 SEC titles from 1980-1982.
Auburn won 3 SEC titles from 1987-1989

Heck Florida won 2 national titles between 2006-2008.

All of these are undoubtedly impressive, short runs of greatness. But IMO there's an extra level of greatness that comes with doing it for a period that lasts the better part of a decade. When it goes that long, a program built something that exceeded the period of one great player or a great class.

Had Neyland not left UT in 1935 and again from 1941-1945, I think he'd be in the same category as Bear Bryant. But unfortunately his time at Tennessee was chopped into 3 stints. Tennessee took major steps backwards each time he left.

quote:

---

But IMO bama's true reign of terror under saban ended, for the sake of THIS THREAD, in 2020. Of course they won 2 more SEC titles, but someone wins an SEC title every year.

---

I definitely see your point. However through 2023, Bama had won 3 of the previous 4 SEC titles... 4 of the previous 6... 7 of the previous 9, etc.

It's hard to say Bama's stint as king ended in 2020 when they turned right around and won the SEC again in 2021 and 2023. That 2023 team was 9-0 in SEC play so it's not like it was a fluke.

Looking back at history, here's how I'd define a program and their ability to say they were the King of the South during that era...

The parameters:

1. There must be a minimum 6-year period of which a team wins at least 4 Conference Titles, with the first and last year of the period bookended with championship seasons. A half a decade or less of dominance is great, but it takes the better part of a decade to be King.

2. During the era, there can't be a stretch of seasons without a conference title lasting longer than 2 seasons.

3. Team must win at least 50% of the conference titles during the period.

4. Some of these claims overlap and that's okay.

***This goes back to the earliest days of football in the South, using the predecessors to the SEC... the SIAA (1895-1921) and the SoCon (1922-1932).

Vanderbilt (1901-1915)
*The original King of the South
*Vandy won 8 conference titles during this 15-year stretch
*Vandy amassed a 61-7-3 conference record during this era (88.0%)
*Won conference titles in 1901, 1904, 1905, 1906, 1907, 1910, 1911, 1912, and 1915

Auburn (1908-1914)
*Auburn won 4 conference titles during this 7 season stretch (1908, 1910, 1913, and 1914)
*Conference record during the span was 35-4-3 (86.9%)
*Overlaps with Vandy's claim to the era, however during this seven season stretch, Auburn won 4 conference titles to Vandy's 3 and had a better conference win %, .869 compared to Vandy's .806

Georgia Tech (1916-1922)
*The Rambling Wreck won 6 conference titles in a 7 year stretch
*This is arguably the most dominant era any Southern team ever had.
*GT won conference titles in 1916, 1917, 1918, 1920, 1921, and 1922
*The Yellow Jackets put up an astounding 28-1 conference record during the period (96.6%)

Tulane (1929-1934)
*The Green Wave won 4 conference title during this 6-year stretch (1929, 1930, 1931, and 1934)
*Tulane went 36-4-2 during this era in conference play (88.1%)

Alabama (1930-1938)
*The Tide won 4 conference titles in an 8-year period (1930, 1933, 1934, 1937)
*Bama went 47-5-2 in conference play (88.9%)
*This overlaps with Tulane's claim. Both won four conference titles... Tulane's was more concentrated with them winning 4 in 6 but Bama's run lasted an extra 2 seasons. It's certainly debatable who was the true King but both have a serious claim to it.

Alabama (1961-1966)
*This was Bryant's first stretch of leading Bama to be King of the South
*Bama won 4 SEC titles during this 6-year stretch (1961, 1964, 1965, 1966)
*Alabama went 39-4-1 in SEC play (89.8%) during the period

Alabama (1971-1981)
*After a 4-year struggle, this new era was Bryant's second go of leading Bama to be King of the SEC
*Bama won 9 SEC titles during this 11-season stretch, failing only to win the SEC in 1976 and 1980.
*Bama put up an impressive 69-4 conference record during the period (94.5%)

Florida (1991-1996)
*The Gators won 5 SEC titles in this 6-year stretch (all but '92)
*Florida put up an impressive 47-5 conference record during the era (90.4%)

Alabama (2009-2023)
*Saban led Alabama to be King of the South for a 15-year run... a lengthy run not seen since Vandy a century earlier.
*In total, Bama won 9 SEC titles during the 15-season run (2009, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2020, 2021, and 2023)
*During this stretch, Bama went 117-14 in SEC play (89.3%)
*Technically not enough time has passed for this run to be proclaimed dead. If Bama wins the SEC this season, they would still lay claim.

Can Georgia join the group?

Georgia (2022-2025) is just a couple of more years away from joining the group. The Dawgs have unquestionably been the best program in the South since 2022 (overlapping with Bama's "King" claim up through 2023 at this point). Many 3 and 4-year runs of being at the top have happened through the years and then fallen off. IMO it takes more than half a decade minimum to earn "King" status. The Dawgs are right there... just need another conference title and extend this run another 2 seasons.

Who didn't make the cut??

1. Tennessee during the Neyland era.

While TN put up a dominant conference record, they came up just short of winning conference titles in many of those years. Neyland won the SoCon title in 1927... the next four seasons to follow his teams went a combined 24-1-3 however they failed to win a single conference title in any of those seasons. Every year had either a loss or a tie, and the conference champion each of those seasons (GT 1, Tulane 3) went undefeated. You don't earn "King" status if you slip up every year and can't bring home the trophy.

Neyland was closest again in 1938-1940... winning 3 straight SEC titles. However, World War got in the way and took Neyland away for military service. He returned in '46 and won another SEC title but unfortunately there was a 5-year gap in the middle that the Vols had little to show for.

2. Ole Miss during the Vaught years
Ole Miss had 6 SEC titles between 1947-1963, but too much time in between some of those to be considered "King". Their best stint was a short-lived 4-year stretch from 1960-1963 in which they won 3 SEC titles... but 4 years isn't long enough IMO.

3. Tennessee under Majors
Tennessee won 3 titles in six years but fell just short of the 4 needed.... plus the 3 season gap in the middle eliminates that period from contention.

4. Auburn under Dye
Auburn got 4 titles in 7 seasons which meets the threshold, but there was a 3-year gap without one in the middle which disqualifies it.

5. Georgia under Dooley.
Similar to Auburn above, UGA won 4 in 7 seasons but there was a 3-year gap without one.

quote:

---

How can that be when AU beat UF in both ‘94 in Auburn (Calvin Jackson 96 yd pick 6) and ‘95 in Gainesville (Nix to Sanders)

---

Those wins were in 1993 and 1994... this 12-game streak started after that '94 game.

On the flip side, Auburn is now on a 12-game losing streak against the Big 6 (0-5 against UGA and Bama.. 0-2 against LSU). This is by far our longest such streak since we lost 16 straight between 1924-1931.

Truly a depressing 5 seasons.

Also it's ridiculous we've not played Tennessee or Florida in the past half decade... thankfully that changes this season.

quote:

---

Kirby has owned all of our main rivals, Auburn, Tenny and UF for a whileand mopped the floor with LSU the last time we played them.

---

No doubt this stat isn't a reflection on the overall success of a coach. It's crazy that as far as I can tell, many of the SEC's greatest coaches never managed more than 5 or 6 of these wins in a row.

What it does highlight though are the eras in which one program under one head coach was absolutely at the top of the league with virtually no slip-up's. That's nearly impossible.

Kirby has been incredible, but there's no denying Bama has for the most part gotten the best of him. Same could be said of Fulmer at Tennessee... only it seemed Florida was the opponent he could rarely get past.

Based on what I can find, these are the only coaches to string together 10 or more consecutive wins against the Big 6:

21- Bryant, Alabama (1976-1982)
15- Saban, Alabama ( l2014-2017)
12- Spurrier, Florida (1994-1997)
11- Bryant, Alabama (1973-1976)
10- Jordan, Auburn (1956-1958)
10- Saban, Alabama (2020-2021)

That's it. Six streaks by just four different coaches. A streak like that is a remarkable feat.

*** and all six of these streaks produced a National Title BTW.

Yep you're right. 12. That's a long streak.

I think that ranks 3rd all-time. Saban's Alabama streak of 15 previously mentioned ranks 2nd (2014-2017). And if I'm counting correctly, Bryant had a streak of 21 consecutive Big 6 wins from 1976-1982 at Bama.