SEC Football: 5 Reasons an SEC Team Will Win College Football Playoff in 2015
Everybody outside of SEC football is tired of hearing about the conference being a powerhouse producer.
The past couple of seasons, Florida State and Ohio State took matters into their own hands, shutting up the chatter about the league the best way possible—by beating them on the field on the way to national championships.
In early 2014, the Seminoles ousted Auburn for the last Bowl Championship Series national championship. Then, in college football's first-ever playoff, among its best, most talented teams last year, the Buckeyes upset Alabama before steam-rolling Oregon for the most recent championship.
FSU coach Jimbo Fisher said again last December that SEC dominance is a byproduct of the national media's love affair with the conference, telling the Atlanta Journal Constitution's Michael Carvell:
"Perception it is driven home out there. It's amazing how you can brainwash somebody. If you're not careful in this country, you won't think for yourself. If you listen to news all the time, they'll tell you what to think, how to think and why you do things. That's why you have to make your own mind up, trust your own eyes and do it.
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Though the SEC may appear down due to the past two championship-less seasons, don't count the conference out. There are too many factors to think the league is washed up.
After all, the SEC is just two years away from owning college football, having won seven consecutive national titles between 2007-13.
You may point to that reign as being over, but it's just a matter of time before the SEC rises back to the top. Why not this year? Here are five reasons why it could happen and the league can find itself right back on top again.
Most Talent of Any Conference
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So, 2014 was a bit of a down year for the conference. After all, when your league's success is measured in championships, any season without one is a disappointment.
But the NFL certainly didn't think so.
Despite all the star power that exited the conference after the 2013 season from Johnny Manziel to Jadeveon Clowney to Greg Robinson, the league didn't miss a beat in producing talent.
The SEC produced 54 draft picks in the 2015 NFL draft, the most from any conference according to NFL.com's Mike Huguenin.
That's nine consecutive seasons of leading all conferences in draft selections. That's right: Nine.
Teams such as Florida State, Ohio State and Southern Cal may produce plenty of their own top-shelf talents, but when it comes to the league as a whole, nobody tops the SEC. The league continued to lead the nation in picks despite Tennessee being shut out of the draft for the first time in 51 years.
When a conference consistently churns out NFL-ready players, there will always be deep, talented championship contenders. Alabama again is loaded with pro talent, as are Ole Miss, LSU and others.
The league may be a little bit down on mega stars this season, but you can put money on the league producing top-notch talent and feel secure. There will be plenty of it again in 2015.
Recruiting Ensures the Talent Level Won't Drop off
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Another quantifiable data set that feeds into the league's annual representation in the NFL draft is how the SEC dominates recruiting each year.
Part of that, of course, is that the league's footprint expands over a veritable hot bed of talent. Sure, California and Texas may produce as much talent, if not more, than any other state. But the SEC is the dominant conference in Florida, Georgia, Mississippi and Louisiana.
The Carolinas and Virginia produce a lot of SEC talent each year, and with the addition of Texas A&M, the league has a strong representation in the Lone Star State as well. Alabama coach Nick Saban just went in and plucked Kendall "The Hulk" Jones from Texas last week.
During the 2015 recruiting cycle, five of the nation's top-10 classes in the 247Sports composite rankings hailed from the SEC. In 2014, the league produced seven of the top-10 teams. In '13, it was five, as well.
Recruiting powerhouses yield talented teams. Talented teams win national championships.
Even in a reloading year, which is expected this season, the SEC could rise up to the top of the college football world if some of the talented newcomers make immediate impacts.
As long as the league continues to recruit at a high level, it will keep producing playoff participants worthy of winning a championship.
Consistently Tough Competition Equals Playoff-Ready Teams
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One of the biggest deterrents for a league that's healthy nearly from top to bottom is that the members beat up on one another week after week.
On one hand, it's tough to have an unscathed participant such as Ohio State running roughshod over an overmatched Big Ten conference last year. On the other, the SEC team that emerges as good enough to be in the playoff is normally battle-tested and playoff-ready.
A flawed Alabama team ran into a Buckeyes buzz saw last year, but that shouldn't take anything away from this point.
Until the past two seasons, SEC teams routinely whipped up on other conferences when it was bowl time.
About the worst thing about having a college football playoff is it's difficult to envision the committee selecting two teams from the same conference any time soon. In retrospect following the first playoff, ESPN.com's Chris Low opined that it would be difficult for any league to get two of the four in.
"But the College Football Playoff is a different animal, and those of us who thought the SEC might get two seats at the table every couple of years were dead wrong. The most iron-clad unwritten rule going is that conference champions will get first dibs every time, and I’m not necessarily saying that’s a bad thing.
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Of course, Low also argued that "the grind of the league is what makes it so treacherous," pointing to the SEC West's 2-5 record in bowl games. The guess here is that was more an anomaly than the rule.
The league may beat up on itself so much that it's going to make it hard for two teams to make it in, but the one who does will almost always be a force to reckoned with no matter whom the opponent.
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Rough to Repeat
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Since 1980, there has been a repeat college football champion only three times.
This occurred in 1994-95 with the Nebraska Cornhuskers, 2003-04 with the USC Trojans and in 2011-12 with the Alabama Crimson Tide. Sure, it can be done, but it isn't easy.
Entering 2015, the only iron-clad favorite to win this year's national championship is the defending champion Ohio State Buckeyes. History may not matter when it comes to selecting a title contender, but that same history shows how difficult it is.
If any team is built to do it, however, it's Urban Meyer's team. The Buckeyes have three stud quarterbacks who are all capable of carrying them to a national title. They're loaded on both sides of the ball with playmakers, and the talent level is just ridiculous.
So, why aren't they a lock to win it all?
Simply put, the Big Ten doesn't consistently produce top-level competition on a weekly basis. That should change soon with all the coaching firepower the league has brought in recently, but it hasn't built up to that just yet.
While that pretty much means OSU will be rested, fresh and ready for the high-profile games, it may not be able to rise to the occasion the same way it did last season.
Besides the Buckeyes, TCU and Southern Cal are the only two other teams that look loaded on paper. Meanwhile, Alabama, Auburn and Georgia have emerged on many way-too-early top-10 lists. Plenty of other SEC teams are behind them.
The smart money is on Ohio State repeating, but in order to do that, Meyer's team must prove it's one of the greatest programs of the past 35 years. It's definitely possible, but the door is open for more tested teams to knock the Buckeyes off, too.
Sense of Urgency
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That "top-conference" shine is wearing off.
The supremacy the conference enjoyed for the better part of a decade is now two years in the rear view, and nobody is really talking about the SEC being loaded with title contenders this year.
Florida State is restocking its shelves with elite talent, Ohio State is threatening to become the next dynasty and the Pac-12 appears to have three programs ready to compete for titles every year in Oregon, USC and UCLA.
The SEC's stranglehold on the rest of college football is gone for the time being, and its proclamation of being the best is tenuous at best.
As CBSSports.com's Jon Solomon wrote this week, the league is 0-5 over the past two years in BCS/College Football Playoff games, losing by an average of 15.6 points.
The only reason why articles like Solomon's exist and have any current validity is because they're rife with cringe-worthy facts such as the big-game record. But programs that spend so much money on coaches and recruiting and everything else don't sparkle and then fade.
They emerge again.
Alabama coach Nick Saban doesn't believe the health of the league has deteriorated recently. In fact, he believes the opposite.
"If you look at it from top to bottom and that's how you're going to evaluate the league, I think the league is in better shape than it's ever been because there have been more really good teams. Now, if you use the barometer that the championship is the only barometer for the league, then I guess you would have an argument against that.
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Many will argue against it simply because the SEC has painted itself into a position where success is measured by championships. Until it wins another one, everybody will poke the sleeping giant, wondering when it's going to wake up again.
All recruiting information courtesy of 247Sports' composite rankings unless otherwise noted. All statistics gathered from CFBStats.com unless otherwise noted. Quotes and observations gathered firsthand unless otherwise noted.
Brad Shepard covers SEC football for Bleacher Report. Follow Brad on Twitter @Brad_Shepard.
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