ATLANTA - If ever a short span could detail the severe contrast between the league's haves and have-nots - other than on the field - it came during the transition from Alabama legend Nick Saban's exit to Vanderbilt second-year coach Clark Lea's time at the podium during Tuesday's annual SEC media days.
After Saban stood in front of a packed house of reporters to answer a bevy of questions - several critiquing his program's failure to win yet another national championship last season - Lea was brought on stage to a much more sparse room to detail his plan for ending Vandy's 21-game conference losing streak.
Before lunch was served inside the College Football Hall of Fame, another helping of harsh reality had been dished out.
Amid all the talk of multi-million dollar NIL deals for players and potential billion-dollar conference expansion, those scenes from two programs at radically different ends of the college football spectrum were a stark reminder that some things never actually change when it comes to SEC football.
In his second season in Nashville, Lea's team opens conference play this fall against the gauntlet of Alabama, Ole Miss and Georgia, all of which won at least 10 games last year. Not exactly a schedule built for gaining confidence through early success on the heels of a 2-10 finish last season.
"Once we reached the season, we were forced to confront our reality," Lea admitted. "I want to be clear that the season was challenging on many levels, but we were not victimized by that adversity. Last fall was a necessary experience for us. It exposed the true starting point for this early start of our build as a program.
"The adversity of the fall broke off all the parts of us that were fake and unbelieving. It stripped us down to our studs. From there, we started our build."
Of course Alabama faces no such rebuild, but one similarity between Lea's and Saban's time with the media - as ludicrous as it may seem - was that the final question directed at Bama's boss was about his team's ability to rebound and whether there is now a blueprint for beating him.
It was proof that not even a coach who has built the most accomplished resume' in the history of the sport - seven national championships, 10 SEC titles and an eight-time recipient of Coach of the Year award - is exempt from being second-guessed.
After never having lost to a former assistant previously, Saban was beaten by two last year, including Kirby Smart and Georgia in the national title game, a loss that has the college football world wondering if league ownership now resides under a different shade of red.
But if we have learned anything throughout the Saban era, it's that when his teams seem surrounded by doubt or chaos, that's right when the Tide responds. Whether that's converting a second-and-26 scenario or battling against the pandemic to roll through a 10-game league-only schedule unscathed, Saban's program - like the Friday the 13th movie villain Jason Voorhees - always seems to rise when challenged and refuses to stay down.
No doubt the return of last year's Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Bryce Young, plus seven defensive starters - including linebacker Will Anderson, the SEC's reigning Defensive Player of the Year - will go a long way in putting to rest such questions.
But if talent alone wasn't enough, the three Bama players who met with the media on Tuesday also echoed that they have felt the outside doubt that followed the Georgia loss and enter this season with a renewed point to prove.
"We still have that feeling, how it felt when we lost," Anderson said. "Everybody has taken that next step to be the best version of themselves so when we come together as a team it's going to be very special."
Anderson was later asked if the October 8 matchup with Texas A&M was circled on the schedule after the Aggies beat the Tide last season and head coach Jimbo Fisher later engaged in a war of words with Saban over NIL deals.
"Everybody is circled," Anderson said before leaning into the microphone to repeat his warning. "Everybody is circled."
Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6293. Follow him on Twitter @StephenHargis.