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SEC now two-tiered league

By Lew Gilliland
The Times-Journal

Published November 21, 2009

Florida and Tennessee ruled the SEC from the mid to late 1990s.

Look it up. Either Florida or Tennessee won the East every year from 1995-98 and went on to win the SEC championship game.

The Gators played in a de facto national championship game, losing to Nebraska in the Fiesta Bowl, after the 1995 season and won the title the next year. Same for Tennessee. The Vols had a shot at the championship before losing to Nebraska in the 1998 Orange Bowl and won the crown the following January.

For that four-year span, the SEC consisted of two tiers — the Gators and Vols on one, everyone else on the other.

Flash forward a decade, and it’s the same deal, with Florida still on the top tier and Alabama having replaced Tennessee.

Sure, both of the giants have had close calls. Florida needed a phantom personal foul to beat Arkansas. Alabama needed two blocked field goals by Mount Cody to hold off Tennessee. But, really, there’s no doubt about who rules this league.

Assuming they remain unbeaten, when No. 1 Florida and No. 2 Alabama meet in Atlanta in Dec. 5, they’ll be playing both the SEC championship game and a de facto national semifinal.

Meanwhile, the rest of the pack is left to trying to outdistance one another as they pursue the Gators and Tide.

The second tier, to borrow from Forrest Gump, is kind of like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.

Consider: Auburn beat Tennessee, Tennessee beat Georgia, and Georgia beat Auburn. Or, how about this: South Carolina beat Ole Miss, Tennessee beat South Carolina, and Ole Miss beat Tennessee.

Want another? OK. Arkansas dominated Auburn. Auburn dominated Ole Miss, and — wait for it — Ole Miss dominated Arkansas.

It’s tempting to put LSU, which has lost only to Alabama and Florida, in a second tier by itself — below the Tide and Gators but ahead of everyone else — but the Tigers needed a phantom celebration penalty to beat Georgia and a goal-line stand to hold off Mississippi State, so we’ll pass on that idea.

So, how long with this current order of things last? Until Florida or Alabama slips, or until someone in the pack acquires enough talent through recruiting to shake things up. But for right now, it’s a league of two giants, and the rest of the SEC is just living in it.

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