Great take by Su'a Cravens. "I absolutely love the correlation between NIL and the immediate parity in CFB! It’s hilarious to see the very theory we all knew was true come to fruition. The moment everybody could pay to play, the SEC’s dominance evaporated."

ESPN analyst mocks SEC for rev-share failures, spares UGA, A&M, LSU, Ole Miss, Bama

That and I think Saban retiring has been key as well. Saban didn't like how NIL was changing the game and left as it was his right to do so I'm not throwing shade on him for that.

But Saban really inflated the SEC because Bama was just so darn good under him. The narrative was simple... We have Bama and Bama wins championships so any team that beats Bama is also super good.

The way Bama and those 21 and 22 Georgia teams were able to build their rosters can't happen anymore to the same extent. They'll need to adapt and so far Smart is in a strange position because he has still been successful but he is 0-2 in the new playoff format while winning two conference titles.

I always wondered how the best teams in the SEC were usually 3 deep.

It doesn't hurt that their footprint contains more elite football talent in the average county as the entire State of Oregon...

I will always maintain that Saban quit because everyone can now do what he’d been doing for years.

1 hour ago, TexasDuck said:

I will always maintain that Saban quit because everyone can now do what he’d been doing for years.

Yes, he now had competition for those players and unlike up-tempo to which he adapted, that dog couldn't learn new tricks aka legalized NIL, unlimited transfers (no longer able to stash players and block from an SEC transfer) and having to re-recruit your own players.

1 hour ago, woundedknees said:

It doesn't hurt that their footprint contains more elite football talent in the average county as the entire State of Oregon...

Oregon signed the top high school football player in the State of Alabama the past two years. Let that sink in.

Money has always bought players in college football. Whether it was under the table in a brown paper bag, or now, via contract to represent Joe’s Diner for millions.

NIL seems to be escalating fast. We will see who is still standing in another 10 years.

There is a misconception than NIL allows teams with high level boosters to be automatically successful. It takes a lot more than cash. They also need alignment with the administration and staff and a plan that allows the program to maximize the use of their NIL funds.

Fortunately, Oregon/Nike is well versed in brand management with their athletes. There will always be those athletes who want the quick cash. However, the smart ones will go with the long term investment in themselves.

Not so fast on the SEC's title chances.

I wouldn't count out a super-motivated Ole Miss team with a magician playing QB. Trinidad Chambers presents a different challenge for the Miami D than the far less mobile Julian Sayin.

Miami is 16-12 in its bowl games and won national titles in 1983, 1987, 1989, 1991, and 2001.

Miami is 0-4 in the Fiesta Bowl with losses to UCLA, Penn State, Arizona, and Ohio State. The U comes into Thursday night's game with the added pressure of winning and playing for a title on its home field. I expect Ole Miss will have more fans in attendance than Miami, unified by a robust hatred of Lane Kiffin.

Miami lost its last bowl game, the Pop-Tarts Bowl, to Matt Campbell and Iowa State, 42-41, with Cam Ward, with Mario's consent, taking a second-half nap. (The folks who wagered on Miami were not happy with Mario's undisclosed bowl game 'strategy.' 🤬)

Ole Miss, +3 to +3.5, comes into the Fiesta Bowl 13-1 with rematch wins over Tulane and Georgia, and with the better QB, a guy who can escape pressure. I like Ole Miss to cover and win.

The SEC's dominance was more about recruiting local talent and poaching players of need, such as Tua and Brock Bowers. There were few, if any, squeaky clean programs before NIL.

Where there is a transactional free market for any endeavor, deep pockets will step up, and talent will be disbursed.

HO$E THE HOO$IERS!

Excellent article by Bruce Feldman is available on The Athletic ($ wall)

'The SEC's dismal bowl record this season points to a fundamental truth: money matters.'

Why, with what we witnessed from the PO committee this season, isn't Tony Petitti's AQ 16-team PO format receiving unanimous support?

One fewer G6 team in the field, but one more ACC, Big Ten, B12, and SEC teams would have been in the field along with Notre Dame.

Plus, no more 1st round byes, more home games, and the PO starting and ending a week or two earlier than now.

Saban is smart. He had the best players and was a great coach across many years.

He stayed on top of the football business for a long time. He knew the time to move on when his stock was high.

Playing it that way he moved on. He does a very good job as an analyst, color guy and commentator. He is believable and funny in commercials. Most of all he has greater control of his life and has risen above the criticism off the fans, alumni, boosters as HC of Alabama.

From afar his career and life look pretty sweet. I sure wish he would step aside one more time and become the first Commissioner or CEO of CFB and bring rules and enforcement back. He could change the schedule, establish full-time officials, and bring a new alignment to CFB.

But, why would he?

1 hour ago, Notalot said:

Saban is smart. He had the best players and was a great coach across many years.

He stayed on top of the football business for a long time. He knew the time to move on when his stock was high.

Playing it that way he moved on. He does a very good job as an analyst, color guy and commentator. He is believable and funny in commercials. Most of all he has greater control of his life and has risen above the criticism off the fans, alumni, boosters as HC of Alabama.

From afar his career and life look pretty sweet. I sure wish he would step aside one more time and become the first Commissioner or CEO of CFB and bring rules and enforcement back. He could change the schedule, establish full-time officials, and bring a new alignment to CFB.

But, why would he?

No offense, but Saban as CFB boss is a no go for me. Too much SEC bias already, don't need his 2 cents.

Your ideas of needed changes are good though. A shrewd lawyer type, like maybe our own JJ from S. Carolina would be a good choice.

I think Pete Carroll saw all this before Saban.

USA Today calls out Bama and the SEC

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/sec/2026/01/02/alabama-football-embarrassed-kalen-deboer-indiana-rose-bowl-sec-big-ten-record/87939308007/

Great comparison, Alabama is Illinois!

At this point, the only thing that will hurt more for Alabama and the SEC is if Indiana, the team that beat them down, loses to another B1G team.

Of course if Ole Miss wins it all, then the horrible record of bowl season and the playoffs for the SEC will be instantly forgotten.

Before the 2006-07 season concluded, this SEC narrative didn't exist. Ohio State, and Michigan were slotted for a rematch, and it took Urban Meyer campaigning to get Florida on a field that they were told they didn't belong.

Remember, we were coming off the USC dynasty, and the U part 2. Auburn was undefeated in 2004, but got left out of the BCS National Championship. Auburn won their bowl game, but didn't receive the same favor USC got the year prior. USC was the undisputed champion, after pasting Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl. The SEC was looked at as pretty good, but not capable of consistently having a program that could compete with USC, Miami, Ohio State, or Oklahoma.

All of that changed in January 2007, in Glendale Arizona. Florida was meant to be the final stepping stone to the crowning of Troy Smith, and Ohio State. Well, it started off well for them with the Ted Ginn kickoff return. But it quickly became apparent over the next 59:34 that there was a mismatch.

The following year, LSU beat Ohio State in New Orleans. The year after that, Florida beat Oklahoma in Miami. Alabama beat Texas in Pasadena, Auburn beat Oregon in Glendale. Alabama beat LSU in New Orleans. Alabama beat Notre Dame in Miami. Then the streak stopped, as Florida State beat Auburn in Pasadena. Ohio State beat Alabama in New Orleans en route to winning the first ever playoff era national championship.

There was talk of the Alabama dynasty dying that night in New Orleans. But then Alabama would go on, and beat Clemson to win another title. Clemson would get their revenge the next year. Alabama would beat Georgia the year after. Clemson would destroy Alabama the year after that, and we were apparently seeing the kryptonite to Alabama. Clemson was the new dynasty.

LSU dispatched that the next year, and then disappeared. Alabama came back, and destroyed Ohio State. Before Georgia had their revenge by beating Alabama, and then a second piece of cake the next year, in that blowout vs TCU. The new era began, and Michigan won the next year. You could say Michigan officially ended the Alabama dynasty in the Rose Bowl that year.

Ohio State ran through Tennessee, and beat Texas in essentially a road game en route to winning the first ever 12 team CFP title. Notre Dame dispatched Georgia, and that was it. Michigan, Ohio State, and Notre Dame had proven the gap was closed. Michigan bullied Alabama. Ohio State made Tennessee, and Texas look slow, and Notre Dame proved that Brian Kelly was a fool.

This year, Indiana officially closed the book in a way that made Finebaum sick. It isn't just Ohio State, or Michigan. Indiana just did to Alabama, what Alabama used to do to Michigan State, or Washington. Totally outclassed, physically, and coaching wise.

Indiana, Oregon, and Ohio State would've cruised through the SEC. Look at the line play, look at the teams still alive. Ole Miss is the last hope, but they haven't faced a line like they are going to see on Thursday. Five years ago, that statement would've seen as insane.

An SEC team hasn't seen the physicality in the postseason like the one they'll see vs Indiana, or an ACC team? Yeah, that's the proof.

I wouldn't say the NIL era has killed the SEC, it's just proven that those programs were playing with an extra ace, it's why they are crying about going to nine conference games. Kirby Smart crying about depth after the SEC Title Game is the result of NIL. He can't go three deep anymore, and it's affected him.

Everything settled in time. Twenty years ago, the SEC was seen as good, not great. I think that statement is still true. There will be your usual suspects winning titles, but they aren't going to be doing it year after year. That era is gone, there won't be anymore all SEC National Title games. We had three, and that was enough. Nobody wants to see Alabama vs Georgia for a national title.

There's parity my friends, and that's a good thing. Oregon, Ole Miss, or Indiana is going to be playing for the first ever national title. If it's Indiana, or Ole Miss, it will be the first time in their history that they will even be playing for one.

This is great for the sport. The only thing that needs to be fixed is this transfer portal nonsense. If a guy signs a contract, head coach, or player. Hold them to it, it's absolutely ridiculous that you have players leaving while their team is playing for a championship. It's even more ridiculous how the whole Lane Kiffin saga played out.

In the NFL, you can't enter free agency, and you can't take another job while your team is still playing.

Great take, Gat. Thank you, Forum Friend.

The calendar in the NFL makes sense, as do restrictions on transfers, salary, but no NIL caps, a draft, better teams the year prior playing tougher schedules next season, and every other rule and regulation that results in more parity.

Players being paid are referred to as 'employees' and not whatever the NCAA wants to call them.

The NFL billionaire owners get along. The players being paid are allowed to form a union and negotiate with management. There is one commissioner and not ten, plus someone representing The Irish. 😁

There are simple fixes to what ails CFB, but good luck getting all of The Powers that Be on the same page.

Can we stop referring to the teams that won anything before the playoffs as "national champion?" All they won were "voter" beauty contests! Have we seen any of those teams make four or 12 team playoffs? They are the just miss America of college football. Washington did make the last four team and now Miami in the 12 team.

Even now, with the "committe" chosing who should and should not be included is not ideal but it is definitely better than the old system!

Josh Pate is better with his "computer" method of picking teams to be included--sans his bias for the SEC. This definitely would have proved which league was better since it would have had mostly B1G and SEC teams included with the Lame Os and Miami included.

No more beauty queens! Let's GO Ducks!!

More on the SEC coming back to the field.

ESPN.com

Wetzel: The big, bad SEC isn't dead. It's just not specia...

The Big Ten is guaranteed to be playing for a third straight national title. Can the SEC find a way to dominate this new era like it did the previous one?