How the SEC can bounce back

The SEC is undoubtedly the hardest conference in NCAA football. With powerhouses such as Alabama and Georgia competing for a national title every year and up-and-coming programs such as Ole Miss and Tennessee joining the mix they are only getting tougher.

At the peak of the SEC, we could potentially see upwards of eight teams in the top 15 of the College Football Playoff Rankings. The addition of Texas and Oklahoma to the SEC only raised the argument for the SEC being the best conference in college football.

This year was clearly a down year for the SEC. The only team in the SEC to make it to the final four in the playoffs was a team that wasn’t even in the conference at the beginning of 2024.

Alabama finished a measly 9-4 after dropping three games to unranked opponents in Vanderbilt, Oklahoma and Michigan in their bowl game. Georgia suffered a tough loss to Notre Dame in the playoffs after Carson Beck suffered a brutal arm injury in the SEC championship.

The Big Ten looked to challenge the top conference in college football with three teams in the round of eight in the playoffs.

The SEC looks to bounce back in this upcoming season with their powerhouses taking back their supremacy and the rising schools taking the next step.

In order to do so, Alabama has to be the first building block of that foundation. Kalen DeBoer showed sparks of keeping Bama as a peak football school but still had three regular-season losses for the first time since 2010.

DeBoer now has a season under his belt under the pressure of being a head coach of a top-tier program. With proper recruiting, Alabama can return to a playoff team once again.

Georgia looked good during the season but lost it when they lost their starting quarterback. Gunner Stockton filled in nicely throwing for 234 and a touchdown. Stockton seems like a good replacement, especially with a full offseason to work with his receivers.

The question remains: can the receivers hold onto the ball? Georgia led the nation in dropped passes. The defense needs to step up a little too. They looked good in the SEC championship but gave up over 40 points against a mediocre Georgia Tech team and couldn’t stop Notre Dame when it mattered.

What will make or break this conference is those higher middle and middle-class teams such as Tennessee, Ole Miss, Missouri, South Carolina, Texas A&M and LSU. These schools are one or two pieces from being great teams.

LSU was in the fight until the train fell off the tracks at the end of the season. Tennessee made the playoffs and got destroyed by Ohio State in the first round. The other teams are all one or two losses from being on the block for the playoffs.

Finally, can teams like Florida and Oklahoma get back to the glory they once possessed? We know Texas, Alabama, and Georgia are perennial favorites to make the playoffs, but those other schools make the conference.

The NCAA is more open than it has ever been with the transfer portal and NIL. All of these schools also possess good reasons to attend their schools. The SEC produces the most NFL players of any conference.

2024 was a very experimental year. It was the first year with heavy transfer portal activity, the first year with NIL and the first year with the expanded playoff.

After the expanded playoff judgment gets cleared up, there will most likely be more SEC teams each year. Intraconference play in the SEC is the hardest of any conference.

Players are going to want to go to schools that can give them the most money, a chance to play, a chance to win a championship and the highest chance to get to the NFL.

The new college football format produces the best-case scenario for the SEC. It gives players the ability to play the best competition in the nation weekly and with that, will bring in all of those other chances for championships and a path to the NFL.

While the SEC had a down year (with six teams in the top 15) they have a bright future. Next season will be the first step, but they are going to ride this wave to stay at the top of the college football hierarchy.

Tristan Kunec is a fourth-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, please email tqk5432@psu.edu.