SEC reign ends, but still posts best bowl record

Florida State finally ended the Southeastern Conference reign of terror, winning the school’s first national championship in almost fifteen years. Leading up this year’s national title game, the SEC had won an unprecedented seven BCS title games in a row.

Jameis Winston, playing up to the Heisman standard, came through in the clutch to secure a last minute victory for the ‘Noles.

My take on this game is simple.  Auburn squandered its chance to win a national title.

The Tigers made one obvious mistake:  not getting the ball into the hands of Tre Mason enough in the third quarter.

It is imperative for a coach to get the ball into the playmaker’s hands.  Here are Tre Mason’s touches broken down by quarter.

1^st – 9

2^nd – 10

3^rd – 3

4^th – 13

Mason touched the ball only three times while Auburn did not score in the third quarter. In the quarters where Tre Mason got double-digit touches, Auburn scored a total of 24 points.

This year’s bowl season turned out to be about what we expected.  The SEC, of course, holding the nation’s best conference record in bowl games at 7-3.

A surprising fact, however, is that the ACC managed to get 11 teams into bowls this season, the most in the country.  Here is a breakdown of bowl records for each of the major conferences.

Big Ten:   2-5

ACC:   5-6

Big Twelve:  3-3

Pac-Twelve:  6-3

SEC:   7-3

Now we will witness a changing of the guard.  No more BCS title games.  College football will finally have a two-game playoff to determine the finalists.

While it is certain that the SEC will boast some of the nation’s most prominent teams, we have to give credit to other conferences.  The Big 12 was within an eyelash of going 4-2 this postseason, and the Pac-12 is as strong as ever with a 66.6 win percentage.

Marcus Mariota and Jameis Winston will return next season and once again threaten the SEC’s hold as college football’s “super conference.”