The SEC could be headed for another lengthy championship run | Adams

John Adams, Knoxville News Sentinel
·3 min read
Alabama Head Coach Nick Saban gives a thumbs up to the Alabama student section following a football game between the Tennessee Volunteers and the Alabama Crimson Tide at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Ala., on Saturday, Oct. 23, 2021.

The SEC won seven consecutive national championships in football from 2006 through 2012. And that success wasn’t all about Alabama.

The Tide led the way, of course. It won three of the national championships. But Florida won two, and LSU and Auburn won one apiece. Auburn almost won another in 2013, but Florida State snapped the SEC’s streak with a last-minute comeback to win the national title.

When the streak ended, I doubted any conference would ever win that many championships in succession. Now, I’m not so sure.

Georgia extended the SEC’s current championship streak to three when it beat Alabama for the 2021 national championship. Alabama won the 2020 title, and LSU won the 2019 championship.

Alabama will be the favorite to continue the streak in 2022. But Georgia has repeatedly landed top-five recruiting classes under coach Kirby Smart. So you can't rule out the Bulldogs even though they lost 15 players to the NFL Draft.

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You also can’t dismiss Texas A&M as a national championship contender. It signed the No. 1 recruiting class in 2022. And coach Jimbo Fisher knows what it takes to win a national title, having won one at Florida State.

The SEC will have even more national championship contenders in a couple of years when Texas and Oklahoma join the league.

Other changes will work in the SEC’s favor, too. College football matters more in the SEC than anywhere else. So, you can count on the boosters from SEC schools investing the most in NIL deals.

Transfers will further enhance the SEC’s championship chances. The SEC recruits the best players and sends the most players to the NFL. That’s not a coincident.

If a college player wants to improve his draft status, what better conference to do it in than the SEC? You won’t just be competing against the best players in the country. You will be practicing against them and playing alongside them.

More: How NCAA restrictions on NIL collectives could impact Tennessee Vols recruiting

The SEC isn’t just strong at the top. Although Vanderbilt hasn’t won a conference game since 2019, it had the No. 32 recruiting class for 2022 in the 247Sports Composite. The other 13 conference teams were in the top 28.

Last season, second-year Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin led the Rebels to only their third 10-win season since 1971.

Kentucky also won 10 games last season under coach Mark Stoops. That gave him two 10-win seasons in the past four years. Before that, Kentucky hadn’t won 10 games in a season since 1977.

Most SEC fan bases have reason to be optimistic about the upcoming season, even if they aren’t coming off a historic or national championship season.

South Carolina started out slowly under first-year coach Shane Beamer but upset Florida and Auburn down the stretch before pulling off an upset of North Carolina in the Duke Mayo Bowl. Not only did the Gamecocks finish with a winning record (7-6), they landed former Oklahoma star quarterback Spencer Rattler from the transfer portal.

Another first-year coach has raised optimism and expectations at Tennessee. Josh Heupel went 7-6 in his first season — not bad for a program that won only three of 10 games the previous season under Jeremy Pruitt.

Missouri won one more game (six) in 2021 than it did in 2020 under second-year coach Eliah Drinkwitz, who also signed a top-15 recruiting class in the past cycle.

Two seasons worth of coach Sam Pittman have rejuvenated the Arkansas fan base, which celebrated a nine-win season in 2021. It wasn't that long ago when the Razorbacks were suffering through a Vanderbilt-like SEC losing streak.

LSU and Florida fans also should be more optimistic. Fans are always optimistic when they hire a new coach.

And then, there’s Auburn.

John Adams is a senior columnist. He may be reached at 865-342-6284 or john.adams@knoxnews.com. Follow him at: twitter.com/johnadamskns.

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: The SEC could be headed for another lengthy championship run