Skip to main content
Wednesday, November 11, 2026Nov 11
Subscribe
All Sections
Search
More

QB play could be key to ending SEC’s national championship drought

Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss talks with broadcaster and former Florida quarterback Tim Tebow after the Rebels beat Georgia in the CFP's Sugar Bowl quarterfinal on Jan. 1 in New Orleans. Chambliss completed 13 consecutive passes, breaking Tebow's Sugar Bowl record of 12 in a row. (AP Photo/Matthew Hinton)
Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss talks with broadcaster and former Florida quarterback Tim Tebow after the Rebels beat Georgia in the CFP's Sugar Bowl quarterfinal on Jan. 1 in New Orleans. Chambliss completed 13 consecutive passes, breaking Tebow's Sugar Bowl record of 12 in a row. (AP Photo/Matthew Hinton) Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss talks with broadcaster and former Florida quarterback Tim Tebow after the Rebels beat Georgia in the CFP's Sugar Bowl quarterfinal on Jan. 1 in New Orleans. Chambliss completed 13 consecutive passes, breaking Tebow's Sugar Bowl record of 12 in a row. (AP Photo/Matthew Hinton)

By MARK LONG / The Associated Press 5 min read

The Southeastern Conference is going through a national championship drought in football, the kind of lull the league last endured more than two decades ago.

Not only has the SEC watched a Big Ten team hoist the College Football Playoff trophy the past three seasons — Indiana for 2025, Ohio State for 2024, Michigan for 2023 — the once seemingly unmatched powerhouse conference hasn’t even had a representative in the title game since Georgia closed out the 2022 season with its second straight crown and the league’s fourth in a row, with the Bulldogs following Alabama (2020 season) and LSU (2021).

Reason to panic? Cause for concern?

It might be more of a head-scratching fluke than an eye-opening fade.

The last time the SEC went three consecutive seasons without a national title was 1999 to 2002, when Atlantic Coast Conference power Florida State, Oklahoma (then in the Big 12), Miami (then in the Big East) and Ohio State won the Bowl Championship Series.