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The Southeastern Conference has been the straw that stirs the drink of college football for a long time. Routinely, not only has the SEC gotten a team into the CFB playoff, but on several occasions, they received two. The SEC is arguably the king of college football.
With the latest additions, namely Texas and Oklahoma, the SEC only strengthened their position at the top of the college football mountain. The SEC is in the foreground, looming large while the rest of college football scrambles to keep up.
In the following, we dive into the options afforded to the SEC and what colleges are heading to the SEC next.
The SEC settles with 16 teams
The SEC has 16 teams in the conference now, and SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey believes their focus should be on themselves.
"Our focus is on the 16," he said. It may be prudent to let the dust settle in the short term and look at what is going on around the rest of college football.
The Pac-12 is reeling following the loss of USC, UCLA, and California to the Big Ten. The Pac-12 flirted with San Diego State, and vice versa, but that deal fell apart, and the Aztecs returned to the Mountain West.
The Big 12 needed to replace Texas and Oklahoma, who jumped ship to the SEC, but they had to settle for the likes of Houston, BYU, UCF, and Cincinnati - not exactly a list of heavy hitters.
The ACC has several teams who would like to leave the conference, but they have some air-tight league bylaws, so any move regarding an ACC team is on hold, at least for now.
The SEC vets its options
The Big Ten continues to vet their options despite adding a trio of Pac-12 teams to bring their total to 16. The Big Ten and SEC seem to be in a tug-of-war for college football supremacy. Why wouldn't the SEC do the same if the Big Ten continues to vet teams?
The SEC is laying down the groundwork for future expansions
The SEC and most of college football believe conference realignment isn't going anywhere. The SEC is likely laying the groundwork with another team that wants to join once the smoke clears from this initial phase of realignment.
Keep an eye on Florida State and Clemson to see if they are the next domino to fall.
