BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) – It was bound to happen.
BCS or playoff, the Southeastern Conference’s run of playing in the national championship game had to end eventually. That aura of invincibility and superiority that vexed other teams and fans inevitably would fade, too.
Four losses over two humbling days took care of that – for the moment, at least. It might be a short-term blip, a down season for a conference replacing star quarterbacks Johnny Manziel, Aaron Murray and AJ McCarron whatever the lofty early and midseason rankings indicated.
“The bottom line is everybody gets tired of the SEC because they’ve lifted up seven crystal balls out of eight seasons,” said CBS Sports college football analyst Houston Nutt, a former Mississippi and Arkansas coach. “They’ve been there. The SEC wasn’t as good this year. You look at the quarterbacks that graduated last year. The bottom line is the SEC wasn’t as good this year as in years past.”
That was abundantly clear this week.