Nick Saban is not around to save SEC football anymore. But, would Saban coming out of retirement rally the SEC? Probably not much.
As the SEC descends, the Big Ten grows in strength.
Saban saw writing on the wall: NIL and transfer free agency would strip away at Alabama and SEC chokehold on power.
In any case, he’s not around to save SEC football anymore. The once-mighty conference is knee-deep in a postseason flop, while the GOAT who helped propel the SEC as Alabama’s coach breaks it all down on a television set.
As the SEC descends, the Big Ten grows in strength.
Is the SEC’s loss on its grip of power as simple as Saban retiring? No. That barely scratches the surface.
On this edition of ‘SEC Football Unfiltered,’ a podcast from the USA TODAY Network, hosts Blake Toppmeyer and John Adams debate why the SEC has fallen off its throne as college football’s overlord and why not even Saban could have prevented this.
Toppmeyer says Alabama’s whimpering finish under Indiana’s fist at the Rose Bowl shows just how far the SEC has fallen. He compares the Tide to a Big Ten team that finished 9-4.
Even Paul Finebaum, generally a staunch supporter of the SEC, says this postseason has been a “terrible” showing for the conference where it “Just Means More.”
The SEC’s humbling outcomes include Tennessee losing to Illinois and Vanderbilt falling to Iowa, a pair of Big Ten flexes in bowl games. Indiana didn’t just flex on Alabama. It annihilated the Tide.
Here’s the upshot:
Did the SEC relinquish its perch because Nick Saban retired?
Toppmeyer: No. It’s the other way around. Saban had the foresight to realize the SEC and Alabama would have a tougher time maintaining its edge in a landscape where donors could openly pay players and athletes could transfer without penalty. He saw the writing on the wall and got out.
Give Saban his flowers. From the 2006 through 2022 seasons, a 17-year span, the SEC produced 13 national champions. Saban delivered six of those titles. His last came in the 2020 season. Notably, that was the final season before NIL and transfer free agency began.
Saban perfected the blueprint for the landscape before NIL and transfer free agency. Kirby Smart learned Saban’s blueprint and used it to win back-to-back national titles at Georgia.
College football’s evolutions since 2021 made it so that Saban’s sign, stockpile and develop blueprint isn’t the only way to pursue greatness.
Adams: No. The SEC didn’t stumble because Saban retired. Saban retired, because he knew the SEC (and Alabama) would stumble. Once it became harder for coaches to control the athletes, Saban wanted no part of this.
Why has the SEC slipped?
Toppmeyer: You can’t point to just one thing. A number of factors contributed to this. The SEC’s gleaming facilities, competitive recruiting budgets, unbridled fan and donor passion, and prime location in a portion of the country that pumps out premier recruits gave it a leg up in the era before NIL and transfer free agency.
Plus, the SEC sort of mastered the art of recruiting in a time before above-board pay-for-play, if you catch my drift. Even beyond the SEC’s footprint, before NIL, why wouldn’t a top prospect from California or Texas want to play for a blue blood like Alabama and compete inside the SEC’s cathedrals, while prepping for the NFL?
SEC schools, by and large, acquired the most high school talent, and retaining talent was easier within the old rules structure. Plus, the SEC generally attracted the nation’s best coaches.
Now that anyone can buy players, booster bucks are spreading out the talent to places like Texas Tech, Miami and lands in between. Schools that don’t sit in fertile high school recruiting terrain (see Indiana) can pack a punch by nabbing instant-impact transfers who come with experience.
The SEC still holds good cards, but it doesn’t horde them like before the 2021 rules changes.
Adams: Well said. I’ll add one more item for consideration. Used to be, players aimed to use college ball to set them up for NFL value. The best players were in the SEC, so that’s where the top recruits wanted to be, too.
It’s like Frank Sinatra sang about New York: If you can make it there, you can make it anywhere.
If you could make it in the SEC, you could make it in the NFL.
Now, players don’t have to wait for the NFL to cash in on their value. They can cash checks from a West Texas billionaire just as easily as they can cash checks in Alabama. Oregon’s got money, too. And Indiana. And Miami.
The talent’s getting spread out, because players are cashing in on their value now, and striking deals across the land, instead of everyone gravitating to one conference that served as the NFL’s minor leagues.
So, is the SEC still the top football conference?
Toppmeyer: No. The Big Ten has that claim right now.
You can’t argue the facts. The Big Ten has produced the past two national champions and is well positioned to produce another, with Indiana and Oregon in the semifinals. The B1G’s crème de la crème has become sweeter than the SEC’s. The SEC’s down-ballot depth advantage eroded, too. Iowa showed us that by handling Vanderbilt. The SEC remains a top-two conference, but it’s staring up at the Big Ten.
Adams: No. Advantage, Big Ten.
The SEC’s best argument at the moment might amount to: “Our last-place team is better than the Big Ten’s last-place team.” What a meek argument that is. That’s a loser’s battle cry.
Later in the episode
∎ Toppmeyer fesses up: He wishes he could make one change to his Heisman ballot, involving an SEC quarterback.
CFP semifinal picks against the spread!
Toppmeyer’s CFP picks (picks in bold):
∎ Oregon vs. Indiana (-4)
∎ Miami (-3.5) vs. Mississippi
Season record: 42-41 (3-1 last week)
—Adams’ CFP picks (picks in bold):
∎ Oregon vs. Indiana (-4)
∎ Miami (-3.5) vs. Mississippi
Season record: 44-39 (2-2 last week)
Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network’s national college football columnist. John Adams is the senior sports columnist for the Knoxville News Sentinel. Subscribe to the SEC Football Unfiltered podcast, and check out the SEC Unfiltered newsletter, delivered straight to your inbox.