by Pete Alvarez

Created on: June 29, 2010

There is no question that the sport of college football has become more and more competitive. Along with this competitiveness comes new challenges from conferences once considered distant laggards. Never was that more evident than last season when both Boise State and TCU qualified for BCS bowl games. However, even amidst a growing challenge from multiple conferences, the Southeastern Conference, or SEC, still appears the most talented and toughest conference in all of college football.

Unlike most conferences, where only a team or two dominate, the SEC provides challenges for teams in the conference on a weekly basis. Even the lower quality teams in the division, such as Vanderbilt and Kentucky, in no way prove easy victories for opponents. Also, teams such as LSU, Alabama, Georgia, and Florida not only have aspirations of reaching BCS bowl games, but playing in and winning the national championship.

Other conferences such as the Big-12 do provide some challenge to the supremacy of the SEC. After all, the Big-12 is itself laden with powerhouses such as Oklahoma and Texas. However, unlike the SEC, a number of teams in the Big-12 do not measure up to the broad range of talent evident in the SEC. Numerous teams in the conference such as Baylor, Texas A&M, Missouri, Colorado and Kansas State mathematically and skill wise do match up with the weakest teams in the SEC.

The SEC also has cemented itself as a yearly favorite for the championship. After Alabama's victory in the 2010 championship game, the SEC has now won the Super Bowl of college football the last four years. Furthermore, the conference has not just put forward one consistent titan of the conference. Instead, three different teams have won the championship in that four year span of invincibility. Florida, LSU and Alabama have each had their moment of greatness since 2007.

Perhaps the biggest reason the SEC is the toughest conference, though, is that such high expectations are placed upon players and coaches alike. For example, having a team such as Florida next season not even qualify for a bowl game would more than likely lead to a complete overhaul of the coaching staff and many players potentially being replaced. Such is not the case in many other conferences or programs in which schools are simply willing to accept and move on from disappointing seasons.

Thus, it is the pure stress of the conference and the mentality instilled upon teams that they must win which sets the SEC apart while clearly crowning the conference as the toughest in all of college football.

Learn more about this author, Pete Alvarez.
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