The SEC Just Keeps Right On Winning

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Last night, the Southeastern Conference wrapped up its fifth consecutive BCS championship as Auburn topped Oregon 22-19 in the desert.  With that in mind, we thought a quick check of the record books was in order.


* Auburn’s victory marked the first time one conference has recorded five national crowns in a row since the Big Ten captured six in a row from 1931 through 1936.  But get your asterisk ready.  Purdue (1931) split the title with Pittsburgh and Southern Cal.  Michigan (1932) split the title with Colgate and Southern Cal.  Michigan and Ohio State (1933) shared the crown with Princeton and Southern Cal.  In 1934, Minnesota split the title with Alabama.  In 1935, Minnesota, LSU, Princeton, SMU and TCU all claimed the championship.  And Minnesota shared the title in 1936 with LSU and Pittsburgh.  In other words, it was a totally different system in the 1930s.  The college football world has never seen such unrivaled dominance as the SEC is currently displaying.


* The SEC is now 7-0 all-time in BCS Championship Games:

1998 — Tennessee 23, Florida State (ACC) 16

2003 — LSU 21, Oklahoma (Big 12) 14

2006 — Florida 41, Ohio State (Big Ten) 14

2007 — LSU 38, Ohio State (Big Ten) 24

2008 — Florida 24, Oklahoma (Big 12) 14

2009 — Alabama 37, Texas (Big 12) 21

2010 — Auburn 22, Oregon (Pac-10) 19


* In the past 13 seasons, five different SEC schools — nearly half of the league — have won national titles.  And Georgia finished #2 in the AP Poll to LSU in 2007.  Talk about depth.  No other conference can come close to the top-to-bottom strength of the Southeastern Conference.


* To put things in perspective, we’ll look back through the record books using the new conference line-ups (Nebraska in the Big Ten, Colorado in the Pac-10, etc) to see how far you have to go back to find each league’s fifth most-recent national championship winner.  We went back only to 1930.  We counted BCS and major poll winners only.

* Southern Cal’s 2004 BCS title was stripped due to NCAA sanctions.
* Michigan and Nebraska split the 1997 crown.


In summary, the SEC has had five different schools win a national championship since the 1998 season.  To match that feat, the Big Ten would have to go all the way back to 1966.  The ACC would have to go back to 1953 and the Pac-10 would have to go back to 1940.

And since 1930 there have not been five members of the Big 12 or Big East win national crowns.

Sorry, America.  But the SEC remains the King of College Football.  Easily.