SEC programs with a football National Championship in the last decade

This must be a mistake.

Where’s LSU?

Do one with teams positioned to compete for a NC as late as November. The SEC isn’t as competitive as some make it out.

SEC Teams Ranked in the Top 10 with 1 or less loss in Week 12 (mid-November)

2008 - #1 Alabama, #3 Florida
2009 - #1 Florida, #2 Alabama
2010 - #2 Auburn, #6 LSU
2011 - #1 LSU, #2 Alabama, #3 Arkansas
2012 - #2 Alabama, #3 Georgia
2013 - #1 Alabama, #6 Auburn, #8 Missouri
2014 - #2 Alabama, #4 Mississippi State
2015 - #2 Alabama
2016 - #1 Alabama
2017 - #1 Alabama, #6 Auburn (2 losses), #7 Georgia
2018 - #1 Alabama, #5 Georgia

I mean, pretty much every year there are at least 2 teams with clear paths to the playoff/title game deep into November. There isn't another league in America that has that most years and most leagues never have it.

quote:

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2009: Florida
2011: LSU
2012: Georgia
2013: Missouri
2014: Mississippi State
2017: Georgia
2018: Georgia

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Am I missing something here?

A 12-1 Missouri would've had a great chance of finishing #2 in the BCS and playing FSU.

quote:

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2012 - #2 Alabama, #3 Georgia

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Florida for 2012 too. If USC had beaten Notre Dame then Will Muschamp would've been in the national title game against Alabama.

How many teams have been in that position more than twice ? Which is saying that all but two teams have only competed for a NC at best 10% of the conferences opportunities to win a NC.

FWIW, I left out the times when Alabama and Auburn were also in striking position, because that's what the OP was about to begin with. But plenty of other SEC teams have been in mid/late November with one loss and ranked in the top five, with an SECCG victory all but securing their placement in the NCG.

There have been other times when a 2007 LSU sort of situation was possible providing the right circumstances occur, but I left those out for simplicity's sake. In 2011, Arkansas went into the LSU game ranked #3 with one loss. If we beat them, there was a chance it could have been Alabama vs. Arkansas in the NCG, although there's probably a coin-flip chance that Oklahoma State gets chosen over Arkansas in that situation.

Edit: A more apt '07 LSU situation would have been if Auburn beat Georgia in the SECCG rematch. They played maybe the strongest schedule I've ever seen in the SEC that year, so I think there's more than a slight possibility two-loss Auburn would have made it into the playoff in 2017 if they could have beaten Georgia a second time. I know I said I was leaving out Auburn, but that was a fairly unique situation. They beat the National Champion, lost to the runner-up by six points on the road, beat Georgia - a third playoff team, and then played that playoff team again. And then they played undefeated "National Champion" UCF in their bowl game and lost by one score.

It's years like that that make me impressed as shite with Malzahn, but he can never seem to maintain his momentum.

Better enjoy that this year