National Championship: All other Power Five Conferences still chasing SEC

Compare the last five and the last ten years of Power Five conference, head to head competition. A National Championship win by LSU is another example other conferences lag behind the SEC.

Congratulations are in order to LSU and coach Ed Orgeron on a deserved National Championship victory. Alabama football fans can take some satisfaction from another SEC team winning another national title.

SEC football teams won six of the ten National Champions in the decade 2010-2019. By any measure, that is stunning dominance. Throw in five more Nattys from the previous decade and this century is so far a showcase of SEC football superiority.

Dan Cunning tracks sports data and his site includes Power Five Conference head-to-head data going back to the start of the BCS era. He offers the data and lets others draw conclusions. It is easy to see from the data that SEC football is at a level above the other Power Five conferences. In some cases, a level, WAY above.

Using Dan’s data we did a comparison of the Power Five vs. Power Five in games from the past five years and the preceding five years. Check out the results below.

2010 – 2014 Power Five Head-to-Head

• Southeastern Conference – 67 wins, 42 losses; 61 percent wins record
• Pac 12 Conference – 46 wins, 32 losses; 59 percent wins record
• Big 12 Conference – 42 wins, 36 losses; 54 percent wins record
• Big Ten Conference – 43 wins, 51 losses; 46 percent wins record
• Atlantic Coast Conference – 44 wins, 70 losses; 39 percent wins record

As the numbers from the next five years indicate, college football has changed rapidly over the past decade. Two conferences, the ACC and the Big Ten became more competitive. Two conferences, the Pac 12 and the Big 12 became less competitive. Again, SEC football was ahead of everybody else.

2015-2019 Power Five Head-to-Head

• Southeastern Conference – 65 wins, 50 losses; 57 percent wins record
• Big Ten Conference – 54 wins, 49 losses; 52 percent wins record
• Pac 12 Conference – 35 wins, 37 losses; 49 percent wins record
• Big 12 Conference – 35 wins, 39 losses; 47 percent wins record
• Atlantic Coast Conference – 49 wins, 63 losses; 44 percent wins record

Are these stats definitive about SEC dominance? If not, the numbers at least prove the SEC is the strongest conference. Power Five conferences are not equal and a disparity between 57 percent and 44 and 47 percent is significant.

No one is arguing Clemson did not deserve a shot a the 2019 title. What can be argued is conference championships should not be a major determinant in selecting the four Playoff teams. The overall strength of a conference should be a factor.

The argument for an eight-team Playoff field, guaranteeing all five Power Five Champions qualify, dilutes the level of competition. Stewart Mandel provides a counter below,

Again, the best team in college football won the National Championship. The trip to Baton Rouge in November will be awesome.