re: Alabama, Georgia, and Florida are the top 3 teams in the SEC since 1970

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Went back and checked to see how close I was. Pretty close:

1950s:
2 Top 5 Finishes: 1957 (#1); 1958 (#5)
3 .500 or worse seasons: 1950, 51, 52)
6 Decent Seasons: Win% of 71.7% in these years

1960s:
1 Top 5 Finish: 1963 (#5)
2 .500 or worse seasons: 1965, 66
7 Decent Seasons: Win% of 66.0% in these years

1970s:
1 Top 5 Finish: 1972 (#4)
4 .500 or worse seasons: 1973, 75, 76, 77)
5 Decent Seasons: Win% of 75.9% in these years

1980s:
1 Top 5 Finish: 1983 (#3)
2 .500 or worse seasons: 1980, 81
7 Decent Seasons: Win% of 77.6% in these years

1990s:
1 Top 5 Finish: 1993 (#4)
4 .500 or worse seasons: 1991, 92, 98, 99
5 Decent Seasons: Win % of 73.3% in these years

2000s:
1 Top 5 Finish: 2004 (#2)
1 .500 or worse season: 2008
8 Decent Seasons: Win % of 68.6% in these years

2010s:
2 Top 5 Finishes: 2010 (#1); 2013 (#2)
1 .500 or worse season: 2012
4 Decent Seasons: Win % of 59.6% in these years

It boils down to this:
Auburn averages 1.3 great seasons in which they are in the mix for a Championship each decade.
Auburn averages 2.4 terrible seasons of a .500 or worse each decade.
Auburn averages roughly 6-7 very decent seasons consisting of a winning percentage between 60% and 75%

They've only really three times put together more than one great consecutive seasons (expanding just a bit the definition of "great"):

1957 & 1958: National Champs plus another Top 5 finish
1986-1989: 4 Consecutive Top 10 finishes w/ 3 SEC Titles
1993-1994: Undefeated in 1993 and 9-1-1 in 1994

Outside of a short portion of the 1980s, Auburn has never really been the dominant power atop the SEC. Tennessee (under Neyland and again in the late '90s), LSU (early and mid '00s), and Florida ('90s) have all had much more impressive runs of success. However, for as short-lived as their successful periods are, their "down" years also seem to be very short in length. Since the mid 1950s, Auburn has never really had a lengthy drought of success. You have to go all the way back to the late 1940s through 1952 to find a period of 5-years or more in which Auburn failed to finish in the Top 25.

I find all the patters of the major programs very interesting:

*Auburn's pattern is very distinct (as described above)
*Alabama's pattern is consistently dominant
*Georgia's pattern is by far the most steady (not as many highs but not as many lows)
*Florida's was bust to boom overnight beginning in 1990
*LSU and Tennessee seem to experience prolonged highs and lows

It's funny how history just seems to repeat itself with a lot of these programs.

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