Times are changing in college sports. Previously, many regarded the SEC as the premiere league to play in. However, three straight years of a non-SEC national champion in football — better yet, three years with no SEC team advancing to the big game — have left this notion in question. So, in this shifting landscape of college sports, is the SEC’s reign of dominance finally coming to an end?
The short answer is no.
The transfer portal is rampant. NIL and revenue sharing have become a priority for most top-end players. Rather than wait their turn at an SEC school, players more often choose to play first at smaller schools with the hopes of transferring to and starting at bigger, more elite programs — while earning millions of dollars in the process.
Since Georgia’s championship in 2022, the Big Ten has won three in a row, and even the ACC made a national championship game appearance this past season, in large part because of NIL.
The Big Ten might have overtaken the SEC in terms of championship hardware, but the SEC is still very much a factor. This past season, four SEC teams qualified for the 12-team College Football Playoff bracket — a third of the field — and Texas also made an argument to be included. Ole Miss narrowly missed a national championship game appearance after a close loss to Miami.
In the 2024-25 season, Texas advanced to the semifinals. The year before, in 2023, Alabama made the field as one of the four College Football Playoff teams.
Besides, the SEC is still dominant in other sports. In men’s basketball last season, 14 out of 16 SEC teams qualified for the postseason, shattering the previous record of 11 teams from the same conference. Seven of these teams advanced to the Sweet Sixteen, four reached the Elite Eight, two reached the Final Four and Florida won the national championship.
In his most recent ranking, March Madness bracket expert Andy Katz predicted 10 SEC teams would make the men’s tournament this season.
On the women’s side, the last time an SEC team was not in the Final Four was in 2019. Last season, South Carolina lost to UConn in the national championship; SEC teams took home national titles the three years prior.
In baseball, a record 13 SEC teams qualified for the NCAA Tournament last season, eight of whom were regional hosts. LSU won the national championship, adding another trophy to the conference’s nine in the past 15 years and the sixth straight since 2019.
This season, 10 SEC teams are ranked within the Top 25, the most of any conference.
In track and field, counting Texas A&M’s tie with USC in 2025, the SEC has won five men’s championships in a row. On the women’s side, SEC teams have won two straight. Also, Florida won in 2022, and Texas, before they joined the SEC, won in 2023.
So, though the SEC may be lagging a bit in football — at least, according to its own lofty standards — in recent years, the conference is not fading by any means. It remains one of the best conferences in the country, if not the best outright.
