Downfall of the SEC?

If you were hoping this was going to be breaking news on the disbanding of the Securities and Exchange Commission, I hate to burst your bubble. Instead, it’s about how the Southeastern Conference is currently on a fall from grace like we have never seen before — and I am absolutely here for it.

I will brag, gloat, rub it in every single one of their fans’ faces. I will take victory laps, receive my roses, and even do a two-step all the way from here to Athens or Tuscaloosa — I haven’t decided which city yet. Knoxville might even be considered for my high-stepping hijinks.

I would love to tell you that this isn’t anything personal, and I’m just doing it in the spirit of competition, but I’d be lying. This is absolutely personal. I think we, the collective non-SEC fans (I’m looking at you, ACC Country), should band together and kick them while they’re down. We deserve to do so.

You might be asking yourself why I have so much animosity toward an entire conference of collegiate athletes. The explanation for that also explains the conference’s downfall.

For years, they were getting away with things that we will never know the truth about. I am not the first person to point these fingers, nor will I be the last. I’m also not saying that most Power-5 schools weren’t doing the same types of things — my beloved Buckeyes got busted for their tattoo-for-jersey scandal.

When the transfer portal became a thing, we saw a small shift in the powers of college football. But, it wouldn’t be until the NIL became legalized that the true seismic shift really happened. The giants that were Alabama and Georgia were losing players to places like Oregon, Ohio State, and even Jackson State and Colorado.

The former two that I listed — the Ducks and Bucks — weren’t subpar schools with no history, but they also never saw the same success that the two giants in the Southeast saw, either.

Nick Saban had a run that we will never see again in sports at any level. Bear Bryant, Lou Holtz, and even Woody Hayes were a fraction of the coaches he was, but one has to think about what the Crimson Tide and Bulldogs were doing down there. You cannot tell me with a straight face that it was just good recruiting.

There is a case to be made there, sure — when you win your first national championship, it sets a pedigree for your program. That helps with recruiting numbers, of course. But that doesn’t set the stage for continued throttling of the rest of the league year-in-and-year-out. The cycle has to stop somewhere.

I have no more credence than anyone else to say that these schools were paying players or doing anything nefarious. I have the same amount of information as you and the next person. But the timing of everything absolutely cannot be just coincidence.

I could end up eating crow here, especially if the Crimson Tide and Bulldogs come back on top in the near future. This could go down as one of the worst takes in sports history, but I surely hope not.