Is the SEC as dominant of a conference as it’s made out to be?

The South Eastern Conference has always been considered in the top 5 power conferences in the nation, and is considered by some to be the number 1 conference in the nation. But is that really the case? According to ESPN, the Power 5 Conferences include the SEC, the Big Ten, the Big 12, the Pac-12, and the ACC. Each one of these schools has a different specialization when it comes to their “best sport” that they compete in. The SEC has always been a football dominant conference, whereas the ACC has always been more considered as a basketball dominant conference.

Looking at the last full year of college sports, meaning 2017-2018, the SEC dominated in the National Championship for football. The two teams competing were the University of Alabama and the University of Georgia. Alabama took the throne this year, beating Georgia in overtime. However, the SEC as a whole only went 4-5 in Bowl games that year, not including the National Championship, according to ESPN. They were believed to be the most dominant football school, and yet powerhouse teams like Auburn lost to a non-power conference school, the University of Central Florida, even when they were ranked five spots higher in the AP Top 25 football rankings. So, while the SEC was able to dominate the National Championship game, they fell to opponents in bowl games many believed them to be better than. Overall, the SEC is still going to be considered the best conference for football because of how dominant they were in the National Championship.

In March Madness for 2018, a school that was not even from any of the Power 5 conferences won the National Championship. Villanova went on a historic run last year to win it all against Michigan in the final. Basketball has always been considered a mainly ACC dominated competition, but there were not even any ACC teams in the Final Four, which consisted of Villanova, Michigan, Kansas and Loyola Chicago, according to the Official March Madness Bracket. In the entire tournament, there were nine ACC teams, and the SEC was right behind them with eight, according to NBC Sports. Of those two conferences, the ACC had two teams reach the Elite Eight, but the SEC did not have any. So, the ACC still did better than the SEC in the tournament overall, but the SEC is continuing to make its presence known in basketball as the number 2 basketball conference in the nation. The ACC takes the Men’s Basketball best conference because while they did not win the National Championship, they had the biggest presence throughout the tournament.

For women’s basketball, the ACC and SEC usually share the glory. In 2018, Notre Dame won the National Championship and they are in the ACC for basketball. However, the team they were going up against was Mississippi State University, an SEC team. In that Final Four, there were two ACC teams and one SEC team. There were seven total ACC teams that made the NCAA Women’s March Madness Tournament, and there were also seven SEC teams that made the tournament, according to the Official Women's March Madness Bracket. Overall, the ACC takes Women’s Basketball because they won the National Championship and overall did better in the tournament.

In baseball, the SEC normally fairs pretty well against most of the other teams in the NCAA. They had a team reach the National Championship last year in the University of Arkansas. However, they fell to PAC-12 team Oregon State in the final. There were three SEC teams that made the actual College World Series, which was the most out of any conference. The ACC only had one team in the University of North Carolina, the Pac-12 had two with Washington and Oregon State, and the Big 12 had two in the University of Texas and Texas Tech University, according to ESPN. An SEC team made the College World Series Final, but lost to a Pac-12 team. The Pac-12 is going to be considered the best baseball conference because of how well they played in College World Series.

As for softball, Florida State University won the Women’s College World Series last year. According to the ESPN Press website, there were four Pac-12 teams that made the College World Series, two SEC teams, one Big 12 team and one ACC team. Florida State took on Washington in the final and beat them. Both SEC teams, the University of Georgia and University of Florida, fell early in the College World Series, but the Big 12 team, the University of Oklahoma, made it all the way to the semi-finals. Overall, the Pac-12 still takes the crown for most dominant conference for softball because of the number of teams they had make the College World Series and, even though they did not win, Washington made it all the way to the final.

All-in-all, the SEC is definitely one of the top conferences in the United States. However, for them to be considered the best, they should have been the best conference in more than just football. They are definitely the best conference when it comes to football based off of the 2017-2018 season. However, they struggled in men’s basketball to compete with the best teams in the nation. They did well in the women’s basketball season, but could not compete with a dominant ACC conference in the tournament. They were up there for baseball, but still could not beat out the Pac-12 in the College World Series. Had an SEC team managed to win it all, the case would have been different. However, Pac-12 team Oregon State won the College World Series, and that really boosted them up in the conference power rankings. The Pac-12 also easily took the softball ranking because of their dominance during the season and major presence in the Women’s College World Series. The Southeastern Conference is easily one of the best conferences in the nation. However, it might not be as dominant in all sports as some SEC fans make it out to be.