The SEC isn't dead just yet; Florida and DJ Lagway are proof positive

Call in a priest. Time for last rites to be read over the corpse that is Southeastern Conference football. Don’t believe it? Then ask yourself how it is that there will be a national championship game for the second straight year minus a team from the Southeastern Conference. Texas put up a good fight but impaled itself in the semifinal, falling to Ohio State.

That’s not enough? Try this.  Alabama lost four games. Hasn’t happened since 2007, Nick Saban’s first year. Bama fans are rationalizing that four in year one was good enough for Nick, so it’s peachy keen for Kalen DeBoer. Uh-huh. The Easter Bunny lives and Santa does have eight tiny flying reindeer led by shiny nose Rudolph.

Georgia lost three games and rolled over and died against Notre Dame in the College Football Playoff. Tennessee ? Surely you jest. The same Vols that should have lost to Florida turned into possums in Columbus. Died in the road they did that night, just like a possum on State Road 40.   

Texas carried the water for the SEC, but they keeled over in the fourth quarter. Give them credit for putting up a far better fight than either Georgia or the Vols. Big Ten folks with bigger mouths than brains want us to believe the SEC needs to call in a priest to read last rites. I look at it like the stock market. Sometimes we need a market correction. This is one of those times. We had one of those in 2013-14 when Florida State and Ohio State won back-to-back but the SEC won six of the next eight, Clemson winning the other two.

Since 2003, five different SEC teams have won at least one national championship. Make that six if you include Texas 2005 when the Horns were in the Big 12. Ohio State won in 2014 and Michigan won last year. The Buckeyes might win this year, but they have to beat Notre Dame first. The Irish are ironically coached by Marcus Freeman who was the Buckeyes leading tackler when Ohio State went down in flames to the Gators in 2006. Wouldn’t that be a hoot if the Buckeyes are done in by one of their own?

Anyway, the SEC will be back. Count on it, and the reason is easy to explain when you take a look at the league from top to bottom. Compare the SEC’s 16 teams to the 18 in the coast-to-coast Big Ten. Start with the Big Ten.

The Big Ten was, is and will always be dominated by Ohio State and Michigan. Sure, Oregon will make some waves thanks to Uncle Phil and all that Nike money. Penn State is always good enough to win until it really matters. Southern Cal keeps spending all that money but is anyone convinced Lincoln Riley is going to win a national championship? Washington? Really? UCLA? Oh please. Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan State, Maryland or Nebraska?  

I’m gagging. Someone tell me all the stud quarterbacks in the Big Ten next year.

Now on to the SEC. Because they are Alabama and Georgia, they will be in everybody’s top ten when the preseason magazines come out around Memorial Day. Just because. Neither one of them has a stud QB for next year, but they have money and money talks. Right now, as in the immortal words of Prince,  their money doesn’t matter too much. Just because Alabama and Georgia lost seven games between them, don’t think they will do it again any time soon.

Tennessee will win a lot of games even though the Vols lose a lot of studs on defense. I’m not of the opinion Nico Iamaleava will ever lead Tennessee to a championship, but he would probably be the best QB in the Big Ten next season if he were to transfer. It took Josh Heupel three years to lose his locker room at UCF. It’s just a matter of time at UT.

I am not convinced Brian Kelly will ever win one at LSU. He had the best college football player on the planet (Jayden Daniels) for two years and lost seven games. He lost four this year even with a roster loaded with NFL talent. Still, LSU will always have enough talent to win a national championship.

Good ole BK is 0-for-3 at LSU while the guy who took his place might very well win a national championship at Notre Dame.

Lane Kiffin probably had the best team in college football yet somehow Ole Miss lost to Kentucky, LSU and Florida. How the hell did that happen? He probably wins nine or ten next season, then comes on strong again in 2026. He’s loading up in the portal. Again. Consider it one of the great mysteries of life that he can go through the roster attrition every single year and still come up with a team that is going to win nine or more.

Texas A&M paid $75 million big ones to Jimbo Fisher to go away because in five of the six seasons he was at the helm of the Good Ship Aggie he lost four or more games. They celebrated paying Jimbo not to coach in Aggieland and got downright obnoxious while proclaiming Mike Elko as the reincarnation of Bear Bryant (he actually coached there) when A&M got off to a 7-1 start. They lost four of their last five, the only win over bottom feeder New Mexico State. Funny, but 8-5 Mike Elko seems to be doing a dandy impersonation of Jimbo. Even so, the Aggies are like LSU. Give them a Big Ten schedule and you could all but pencil in a minimum of nine wins.

South Carolina won nine games this year. Go figure there, but it just goes to show you how good the SEC is. At the end of the year they could have beaten anyone in the league. The Gamecocks were predicted to finish 15th out of 16 SEC teams.  Missouri won 10 games. Do you really care? Quite frankly, Mizzou belongs in the Big Ten but that’s another story for another day. Still, they’re in the SEC and let them play a Big Ten schedule and they would whomp up on everyone not named Ohio State, Michigan or Oregon.

Oklahoma has seven national championships in its history and a slew of Heisman Trophy winners. Do you really think the Sooners will stay down and out a long time? Think when not if the Sooners are back in a big way.

Kentucky is coached by Mark Stoops. There is a reason he stays at Kentucky. They think a trip to the Music City Bowl is a sure sign that they can rub elbows with the best of the SEC. As long as he keeps getting trips to such exotic bowl locales as Nashville, Memphis and Birmingham, he’ll have a job.

Vandy won seven games because of the portal. Clark Lea figured out that it’s easier to get someone into Vanderbilt who’s (a) pretty good and (b) has three years of decent grades on his transcript than a high school kid. Good players who are high school kids don’t think of going to Vanderbilt, but kids who have played three years of college football who have good grades and want to play in the SEC think Vandy and Nashville are fun places to be.

Auburn is a train wreck but the boosters have a ton of money and Hugh Freeze hasn’t forgotten how to coach. It’s a matter of when not if Hugh will win at Auburn. Arkansas survived a year without Sam Pittman divorcing offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino so the Hogs will be a threat to always win seven or eight games.

Mississippi State. Well, every league needs a homecoming opponent.

That brings us to Florida. Beware the Gators. Moses spent 40 years wandering in the desert. Billy Napier only spent two-and-a-half. The Promised Land isn’t that far away and the reason is DJ Lagway. He could win the Heisman before he is drafted top five in the NFL in May of 2027.

DJ has a supporting cast that includes all five starters on the O-line and some studs who are ready to challenge for starting jobs. Jake Slaughter is the best center in college football. Period. End of story. The UF running game with Jaden Baugh and Ja'Kobi Jackson will be the best in the SEC. Even losing Elijhah Badger and Chimere Dike won’t hurt the passing game. Tre Wilson will be back and he’ll be joined by UCLA transfer Michael Sturdivant and freshman studs Dallas Wilson, Vernell Brown III and Naeshaun Montgomery are players.

The defense will be good. Count on it. Even losing Shemar James to the NFL the linebacking corps will be special with Pup Howard, Myles Graham, Aaron Chiles and Jaden Robinson. EDGE guys Tyreak Sapp and George Gumbs Jr. are studs. The big guy on the D-line is Caleb Banks, who is a force. I like a secondary that has Devin Moore, Dijon Johnson, Aaron Gates, Sharif Denson and Jordan Castell.

I’m sold on Florida in a big way. I think the rest of the SEC will be, too. I think the Gators will be very much in the hunt for the College Football Playoff. I don’t think anyone should be surprised if they make it.

The teams with the best quarterbacks make it to the playoffs and DJ Lagway will be the best in the SEC and one of the two or three best in the entire country next year. In addition to Lagway, these SEC quarterbacks will be better than anything in the Big Ten next year: Garrett Nussmeier (LSU), Nico Iamaleava (Tennessee), Diego Pavia (Vanderbilt), Arch Manning (Texas), LaNorris Sellers (South Carolina), Taylen Green (Arkansas) and Marcel Reed (Texas A&M). There is no way the Big Ten can match that.  

The way it stands right now, the best QB in the Big Ten next year will be Drew Allar of Penn State.

Any questions?