Time to Re-Evaluate SEC's Place in Football Hierarchy

Powerful league's promise in 12-team playoff fading

Arkansas running back Braylen Russell pulls away from No. 4 Tennessee in the fourth quarter at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium. Arkansas won 19-14. / Nelson Chenault-Imagn Images

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — It's probably time for the SEC to accept a bit of reality. 

After more than two decades of dominance, the joyride may be over. It may finally be time for the Big Ten to assume the throne for a while.

Yes, there's still a solid chance Texas will find a way to walk away with the national championship, but, if so, the SEC really can't claim that one. The Longhorns aren't really SEC just yet.

They're more like hired guns at the moment. It's almost as if commissioner Greg Sankey could see the writing on the wall with the unavoidable eventual retirement of Nick Saban, had doubts as to whether Georgia could handle the pressure of being the next college football dynasty, and opted to buy a little insurance.

In an NIL world, Texas, with its deep pockets, convenient recruiting base, and Saban disciple in Steve Sarkisian, provided the highest quality policy after being given time to prepare for the move. It required bringing along Oklahoma, which brings minimal value for men's sports, but at least adds SEC caliber women's programs.

With Georgia, Alabama, Ole Miss, Tennessee, and Missouri all looking quite average this year, the SEC's stellar reputation stands to take a huge hit with early playoff exits. Even SEC Shorts had to put those programs on fraud alert this week.

Still, it's possible Texas doesn't even make the playoffs. The Longhorns are due at least one down game they shouldn't lose and the biggest candidate for that is a stretch of at Vanderbilt, at Arkansas and against Kentucky in three out of four weeks with what should be an easy win over Florida sandwiched in between.

No one can underestimate the magic of Diego Pavia and Eli Stowers in Nashville, the trap game Arkansas always presents Texas, especially at night in Fayetteville, or how stubborn Kentucky's defense can be anywhere it goes. Texas escaping without an off game will be more surprising than an upset. 

A loss to any of those teams means the grudge match at Kyle Field against Texas A&M could end in another loss. If Georgia somehow pulls off the win in Austin this coming weekend, the dream season for Texas comes to an abrupt halt.

Perhaps nothing clearly defines the state of the SEC more than every ranked team left on the schedule for Vanderbilt and Arkansas is uneasy about the game. Keep in mind that these are two teams that lost to Georgia State and Big 12 bottom dweller Oklahoma State respectively.

Oklahoma State's Josh Ford (40) looks to get past Arkansas' Jaheim Singletary (15) in the second half of the college football game between the Oklahoma State Cowboys and the Arkansas Razorbacks at Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater, Okla.,, Saturday, Sept., 7, 2024. / SARAH PHIPPS/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK

In the old days of fake national champions, when voters would draw false equivalencies about if Team A beat Team B and Team B beat Team C, then clearly Team A would beat Team C, the equation would have the Panthers and Cowboys good enough to be in the SEC championship game if they could only play in the watered down SEC. It's a stretch that shows the fallacy of the pre-BCS era, but it's still a bad look considering Vandy took down No. 1 Alabama shortly after the Tide took down No. 1 Georgia and narrowly missed out on taking down a Top 10 Mizzou team, while Arkansas ended the false narrative that Tennessee is a national championship contender.

Right now, Georgia, Alabama, LSU and perhaps Tennessee are contenders to slide into the playoffs, although multiple schools on that list will suffer a second loss in the coming weeks while the Big Ten and ACC continue to leapfrog SEC teams for prime positioning in the rankings that will determine home field.

Alabama may have looked good in Wisconsin in the waning days of summer, but it's debatable how the Tide might look in Ames, Iowa on the eve of winter for a first round playoff game. Right now, unless Texas A&M, Arkansas or Vanderbilt slip into the mix somehow, the math doesn't bode well for the SEC to get more than three teams from the SEC to get in and outside of the SEC champion, only one of those might be a home game.

There are simply too many guaranteed losses the current contenders have to absorb because of head-to-head games. The odds of this being the big year for the SEC pundits envisioned when the 12-team playoff was announced are slim.

It's a little ironic that if this is the year the SEC mystique officially fades away, that it would be Arkansas and Vandy to usher it in while all the league's hopes rested on the shoulders of a pseudo-Big 12 school that no one thought would ever truly be back.

HOGS FEED:

• SEC Shorts: Arkansas avoids fraud accusations, other schools not so much

• Calipari's Razorbacks in Top 25 of AP Poll, KenPom Ranking

• If Pittman has found LSU weakness, he wasn't saying anything Monday

• Observations from Arkansas tip-off event in Pine Bluff

• ESPN predicts winner of Arkansas, LSU game

• Subscribe and follow us on YouTube
• Follow HogsSI on X and Facebook