Does it Really “Mean More”?
The Southeastern Conference (SEC) slogan “It Just Means More” has been used by the conference to reinforce the narrative that it is the best conference for college athletics in the country. The biggest college sport by viewership and revenue is football, which the SEC has dominated since the beginning of the 21st century. This narrative has been reinforced by American culture as football is often referenced to “live in the south”.
When looking at the success of college football programs and conferences over the last 25 seasons, there are clear standouts. The first is National Championships. In 1998 the BCS era of college football began which meant that the two highest ranked teams in the country at the end of the season would play each other for the national championship. This was different from before where the national champion was decided by a group of voters, sometimes leading to shared titles, or teams who felt they were robbed of a title claiming it anyway. The BCS model would end shared and claimed titles during its era from 1998-2013. Aside from 2003 where LSU and USC would share the title, the model worked well. So, what happened in the BCS Era with 17 total national champions in the 16 seasons? The SEC won 9 of these titles between 5 programs; the ACC won 2 titles by Florida State; the Big-12 won two titles by two programs; The Pac-12 won 2 titles by USC; the Big-10 won one title, and the Big East won a title before Miami (FL) would move to the ACC. The SEC won over half the titles and had more programs win titles than all of the conferences, but was it really domination? That question would be answered when College football switched to the CFP era, but some already saw it coming as the SEC won 7 of the last 8 BCS titles and appeared in the championship game of the lost title (SRCFB, 2025).
The CFP Era would establish a four-team playoff method to try to accommodate teams who were talented enough to compete for a championship, and because the 5 major conferences felt that they should all be represented. The first championship saw Big-10 Ohio State beat Pac-12 Oregon. This was the first National Championship without the SEC in 9 seasons. After this season, viewers and analysts wondered if the SEC was really as dominant as they claimed since they failed to provide a championship team in a larger field. But that was a mistake. After that season, the SEC would have a team in every National Championship in the CFP, won 6 of the last 8, and had won 4 championships in a row. The SEC now had 15 titles over the past 25 seasons of college football and had
missed only one title game since 2005. It was clear who the best conference was in college football before 2022 (SRCFB, 2025).
So why has the SEC been so dominant over the past 25 years? The southeast region of the United States produces the best high school athletes, and the SEC schools are right there to recruit them. From 2012-2021 of the 331 5-star rated high school football players, 157 have been from the southeast, and 157 committed to play at an SEC school (Stephens, 2020). The southeast region includes the states Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. Even though Kentucky, Missouri, and Texas are states with a program in the SEC, they are not technically apart of the geographical region. Just about half of the best recruits are from 9 states and go to 14 schools out of over 120. So, it is pretty clear as to why the SEC dominated the 25-year stretch from 1998-2022. The best talent in the country was in their backyards, and all they had to do was recruit them.
However, there was a change in college football that has altered this dominance. After the legalization of NIL in 2021, which allows college athletes to be paid, recruiting strategies changed. The transfer portal grew and allowed players to switch teams after a season. Programs began switching conferences to create super conferences. And the playoffs would expand from 4 teams to 12 teams. These four changes have allowed other programs from less notable conferences to catch up to the SEC.
The last 3 years of college football have exposed how these factors are ruining the SEC’s dominance. Since these factors and policies have been implemented, the SEC’s reign of terror over college football has completely disappeared. Since the end of 2022, there have been three national championships and three playoffs. Two 12-team playoffs and one 4-team playoff. In those playoffs, the SEC as a whole is 5-9. They have failed to provide a championship appearance in each of the last 3 seasons, which has not happened at all since a national championship game was established.
This season the SEC is 4-10 in bowl games, better than only the Sun Belt (NCAA, 2026). The Big-10 and ACC are the best 2 conferences and will battle for the top spot with their national champion representatives. However, 2 wins and losses are from playoff games in which two SEC teams faced each other. Without those 2 games the SEC is 2-8 in bowl games which would be dead last out of every conference in college football. The SEC had one playoff win this year that was not against an in-conference opponent, when Ole Miss beat the AAC champion Tulane at home in the first round. The SEC failed to dominate outside their conference as they were 6-8 vs the ACC and 3-4 vs the Big-10 this season (Cunning, 2026).
This did not happen in 2024, but it was true in 2023 as the SEC was 5-7 vs the ACC and actually 12-13 vs the power conferences, their first season without a winning record against the power conferences since 2017. In 2024, the SEC returned to domination outside of conference going 11-3 vs the ACC and 20-11 vs the power conferences. The question then is what happened in that season? Well, it was the first year of the 12-team playoffs. The SEC sent 3 teams in Georgia, Tennessee, and Texas. Alabama was the first team left out of the playoffs as SMU got in over them. Georgia would lose to Notre Dame in their first game, Tennessee would get blown out by Ohio State in the first round, and Texas would be the conferences only bright spot in the playoffs. Texas, a first-year SEC program in 2024 after moving from the Big12, would play the two lowest-ranked teams in the playoffs. Their first game was against 16th-ranked Clemson who made the playoffs because they won the ACC. Their second game was against 12th-ranked Arizona State who got a first round bye because of the original 12-team playoff format. Texas would win these two games before losing to Ohio State in the semifinal. Alabama would lose to 7-5 Michigan in their bowl game after missing the playoffs, exactly 365 days after Michigan beat them in the Rose Bowl to eliminate them from the final 4-team playoff. Michigan beat Alabama on January 1, 2024, and December 31, 2024, becoming the first team since Birmingham Athletic Club in 1893 to beat Alabama Football twice in a calendar year.
The 2025 playoffs were also horrible for the SEC. The playoff bracket shaped out with 5 SEC teams, more than any other conference. 9-seed Alabama would travel to 8-seed Oklahoma, 6-seed Ole Miss would host 11-seed Tulane, 7-seed Texas A&M would host 10-seed Miami, and 3-seed Georgia would get a first-round bye. Alabama beat Oklahoma 34-24, Ole Miss beat Tulane 41-10, and Texas A&M would fall to Miami 10-3. In the second-round, Alabama would play 1-seed Indiana in the Rose bowl, and Ole Miss would play Georgia in the Sugar bowl. Alabama was embarrassed on national television as they would lose 38-3 against the Hoosiers, giving them their first win in a bowl game since 1991. Ole Miss and Georgia would play in the most thrilling bowl game of the playoffs where Ole Miss would win 39-34. Ole Miss would then play Miami in the Fiesta Bowl with a chance to send the SEC to their first National Championship of the 12-team playoffs. Ole Miss would lose on a game-winning touchdown with 18 seconds left scored by former Georgia quarterback Carson Beck. Beck transferred from Georgia to Miami after a second-round playoff exit last season, and fans asking for him to be replaced (Williams, 2025). Beck will now play in the championship with the Miami Hurricanes against Indiana, leading Miami to their first national championship game since 2003.
Indiana will face Miami in the National Championship game next Monday, January 19th. Indiana had more losses than any program in college football history at the start of the 2024 season (Werner, 2025). They were ranked 17th in the Big-10 conference preseason
poll, and as mentioned earlier had not won a bowl game since 1991 (Parks, 2024). The Hoosiers would go 11-2 under first-year head coach Curt Cignetti, making the playoffs, and having both their losses be to the two teams that played in the National Championship. The media called them a one season wonder, and they started this season ranked 20th in the AP poll which was 6th highest in the Big-10. This did not phase Indiana as they would go undefeated in the regular season before beating Ohio State in the Big-10 championship game. This was the Hoosiers first outright conference title since 1945 and earned them the #1 ranking for the first time in program history. In two years, Curt Cignetti turned around the worst program in college football from a punching bag to a heavyweight title contender. This is only possible because of the changes brought by the NIL era and is all the proof needed to show that college football is changing. Indiana is ignoring the past and creating their own future, and it might be time for fans and analysts to do the same.
The idea that the SEC is still this dominant conference in college football should no longer exist in the minds of fans, analysts, and poll voters. However, it is often one of the most debated topics in college football. SEC fans bring up the years of success that the SEC has, to show the conference is the top dog. While others are mentioning how the new “NIL era” is now upon college football and the SEC is yet to show up for it. Until the SEC starts to have any success in the playoffs, and not just great preseason rankings, then they can reclaim their title of dominance. But until then, the SEC’s dominance has fallen as the era of NIL has begun and allowed other programs to rise.
Works Cited
SRCFB. (2025, December 13). Complete List of College Football National Champions with Seasons. Sports Reference. https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/years/index.html
Stephens, M. (2020, December 15). Which states have produced the most 5-star football recruits over the past 10 years?. MaxPreps. https://www.maxpreps.com/news/Y85mdocTXEiVazKvn-ABbg/which-states-have-produced-the-most-5-star-football-recruits-over-the-past-10-years.htm
NCAA (2026, January 9). Big Ten and ACC are dominating college football bowl season. NCAA. https://www.ncaa.com/news/football/article/2025-01-02/big-ten-and-acc-are-dominating-college-football-bowl-season
Cunning, D (2026, January 8). 2025 College Football Conference Records. Topdan. https://topdan.com/college-football-conference-records/2025.html
Williams, J. (2025, September 1). Why Did Carson Beck Leave Georgia for Miami?. Sports Illustrated. https://www.si.com/college/georgia/football/why-did-carson-beck-leave-georgia-for-miami-01k42r7h7hyw
Werner, B. (2025, August 12). What 20 college football programs have the most losses in history?. List Wire. https://sports.yahoo.com/article/20-college-football-programs-most-225502685.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAADoTtWXxCOpaHi7Jy_db1cIHH-nYVnSRXSAoNZTF80InQ6mOKpmROJBzl0KH5dFAi8CoNsqW0pKkIr4xv56LxQleaqfqj293h3N9vhOak4nDfp7kHavHHKv_Aa6gjoo8odtPHmEl0z22Bd8OSk4JDwlFOw9PqBcxnuz2NY3WiWcC
Parks, J. (2024, July 23). Big Ten football rankings: Ohio State tops 2024 preseason media poll. Sports Illustrated. https://www.si.com/fannation/college/cfb-hq/rankings/big-ten-football-rankings-2024-preseason-media-poll