Why you shouldn’t be surprised at Alabama being the top team in the NCAA

The Alabama Crimson Tide has once again been ranked as the top team in college football, topping the Amway Coaches poll last week.  Southern powers Clemson, LSU and Tennessee are also ranked in the top 10.

Alabama has by far been the most dominant team this decade, winning four of the last seven national titles.  There’s no secret to their success – head coach Nick Saban continues to replenish his roster with top recruits and great assistant coaches every year.  His tireless devotion to recruiting leads to wins – a lot of wins.

But how do they do it every year?  Someone has to knock them off eventually, right?  Why does it seem like the SEC is leaps and bounds ahead of the rest of the country?  Is the South just inherently better at football than everyone else?

Well, the South certainly has had its (more than) fair amount of success over the past two decades.  It’s pretty uncommon to be so dominant over the course of that time, but the SEC has managed to do it.  The question is – how?

History

No conference in college football has the history of winning that the SEC does.  Sure, there are consistent powerhouses above the Mason-Dixon Line, but most schools in the Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and ACC do not have historically dominant football programs.  Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Auburn, Tennessee and LSU are all arguably among the top 20 programs of all time.  The Bible-Belt even has football powers outside of the SEC like Texas and Florida State.

Just think about names for a moment.  Bear Bryant.  Peyton Manning.  Bo Jackson.  Herschel Walker.  Nick Saban.  Cam Newton.  Tim Tebow.  Johnny Manziel.

Some of the greatest coaches and players – all from the SEC.

When you’re able to boast a winning history and a long list of legends, chances are you’ll have a bit of success when recruiting season comes around.

Tradition

We’ve looked at some names.  Now let’s look at some numbers.

• Total National Championships from the SEC: 43
• Total Heisman Trophy winners from the SEC: 12
• National Championships won by the SEC since 1998: 10

The SEC has a winning tradition, and their teams do a good job of keeping it going.  The CFP ranking without a Southern team in the top 5 is practically unheard of, and the SEC champion is pretty much guaranteed a playoff spot.  Some thought that the introduction of the College Football Playoff would bring an end to Southern dominance.  But as Alabama showed us last season, that’s not the case.

If you’re a top prospect deciding where to play college ball, you will probably go with a program where you have a good chance of winning a national title.  If you’re an athletic director or coach, you’ll want to continue building a winning reputation at a respected football institution.  In either case, the SEC is a safe bet.

College football is the South’s NFL

The South doesn’t have much to brag about when it comes to professional sports.  The Falcons and Saints are hardly as popular as LSU or Georgia, and they’re not exactly the best teams in the NFL.  So when your home state doesn’t have a pro football team, what do you do?  Well, the SEC may as well be an extension of the NFL.

With stadiums that seat over 90,000 fans, nationally televised games every Saturday and some of the most loyal fan bases in the country, the Southeastern Conference is a football organization unlike any other.

High school players in Arkansas grow up wanting to be Razorbacks, and kids from all around the nation dream of putting on a Gators or Bulldogs uniform.  This conference isn’t just a group of college football teams; it’s a body that brings millions of people together every fall.  When one conference has such a huge impact on the sport, an incredible amount of pressure is put on the teams to succeed and live up to their hype.  Which brings us to the final point…

The SEC plays to be the best

The SEC is the best conference in college football, and they know it.  When a Tennessee Vol puts on that helmet and shoulder pads, he’s not just representing UT Knoxville, he’s representing the entire Southeastern Conference.  This conference is special in that they want to keep their success going.  The rivalries are intense, and each school pushes against the others to achieve greatness.  Every major university south of Virginia eats, sleeps and breathes football 24/7.  It’s not just a sport – it’s a religion.

The Big Ten isn’t full of schools that wake up every morning wanting to be the best program in the country.  The west coast doesn’t have thousands of players wanting to play college ball in California or Oregon.  ACC schools like Syracuse and Pittsburgh don’t put the effort and resources into football the way Southern programs do.  If you want to be the best, you have to play like the best, period.  The SEC is simply the best because they want to be.