Wednesday, November 21, 2012

SEC Back In Pursuit of 7th Straight Title


By: Dennis Grady Barker
            
The majority of college football fans rejoiced last weekend because they were certain the Crimson Tide’s untimely loss to the newly added Aggies of Texas A&M would strike the end of the SEC’s six year string of national championships. But after this past Saturday, they may be thinking they celebrated just a little too early.

            For the first time since 2007 both no. 1 and no. 2 went down in the same day. Oregon lost a late thriller in overtime to Pac-12 rival Stanford, and Kansas State let an unranked, and at the time under .500, Baylor squad embarrass them by 28. This not only allowed Notre Dame to take command of the no. 1 spot in the BCS since its conception in 1998, but now teams ranked two through four belong to one loss SEC teams.

            Now obviously one of these teams will lose one more game inevitably when Alabama and Georgia meet in the conference championship game on December 1stin Atlanta, Ga, but let’s consider the following scenario. Say USC pulls the upset on the undefeated Irish this Saturday, and the one loss Florida Gators defeat their arch rivals in Florida State. This would lead to the SEC holding the top three positions in the BCS standings heading into conference championship weekend, with what most would anticipate a no.1 vs. no. 2 matchup in the SEC title game for the 3rd time in five years, and the Gators would await the winner down in Miami, Fla.

            2012 could result in the 2nd consecutive season the national championship would be decided by two teams from the same conference, both times from the SEC at that. After several people began discussing an impending Kansas State vs. Oregon matchup just last week, they may want to revise their national championship projections because it looks like the SEC will have a say in who the champion is yet again. One fun fact to leave everyone with, the SEC is 8-1 all-time in BCS national title games, the only loss coming last year to a fellow SEC competitor.
            
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