There Are No Longer Two Leaders in the SEC, Just One Crimson King

Posted on October 4, 2010 by Jacob Bunn

During the past four years, Florida and Alabama have, in a word, dominated the Southeastern Conference and the nation when it comes to college football. The two have met in the SEC Championship Game both of the last two years. Florida won the SEC and BCS Championship in 2006 and 2008. Then last year, Alabama accomplished the same feat. There is no doubt that these two teams have ruled the SEC over the past few years.

Urban Meyer and Nick Saban are considered by some to be the best two coaches in the country. They were 1-1 against each other going into the colossal matchup between the two national powers in Tuscaloosa this past weekend. In the company of over 100,000 fans in Bryant-Denny Stadium, top-ranked Alabama dismantled seventh-ranked Florida 31-6. It wasn’t even close. The gap between Alabama and Florida, though, is wider still than the final score of the latest contest between the two teams indicates.

So, now that Alabama has blown out the only team that has been competitive with it the last few years, who’s left? The answer is no team, no program, no coach, no facility, or no fan base is on the same level as Alabama right now.

Aside from being the reigning SEC and national champions, Alabama has not lost a game since January of 2009 and has not lost regular season game since November of 2007. Every week, it seems, the Tide is showcased on a national television platform.

A good bit of Alabama’s success can be attributed to its fourth year head coach, Nick Saban. In only three and a half years of being at the helm in Tuscaloosa, Saban has racked up a record of 38-8, which is a winning percentage of 82.6. There has only been one coach (other than Saban) to win an SEC Championship at two different schools, Paul “Bear” Bryant. If things continue to be so successful in Tuscaloosa, Nick Saban has a shot at going down in history as college football’s greatest coach.

Where does Florida go from here? Well for starters, everyone involved needs to resign their minds to the fact that Tim Tebow is no longer part of the Gator football team. Trey Burton, while a terrific athlete, simply does not need to be throwing a jump pass on fourth and goal from a yard out. Another resignation that needs to be made by people involved with the Florida program is the fact that they are no longer the leader or co-leader in the SEC. They are, along with the other ten conference members, at least one notch below the crimson monster in Tuscaloosa.

There has been a lot of talk about what would happen if Florida won a rematch with Alabama in Atlanta for the SEC Championship in two months. That could occur and would be an intriguing scenario. But if Florida does not repair some of its serious offensive woes, they will not even be playing in the Georgia Dome on December 4th.

There is a simple message that college football enthusiasts can take from the beat down Alabama put on Florida last Saturday:  You are going to have to be better than Alabama to beat them. This team does not turn the ball over, get penalized often, or make crucial mental errors. For this talented, tough, physical, and extremely well coached team, the sky is the limit.

It would have been easy for the Crimson Tide to come into this season complacent with the success it has had the past couple years and rely on the preseason perception that they are the best team. But, they didn’t. Alabama had the same, if not more, determination it showed during its 14-0 national championship run last year. There is no better example of that resolve than the seventeen point comeback the Tide performed on No. 10 Arkansas during the second half in Fayetteville.

Perhaps the greatest accomplishment of all for the Crimson Tide is the fact that it has had all of this success in the SEC, which is considered by most to be toughest conference in America. So as Alabama goes for its 30th consecutive regular season victory this Saturday against South Carolina, it is clear that the Crimson Tide is truly head and shoulders above everyone else in college football.

Contact Jacob Bunn at Jacob@bunnsports.com