SEC desperate to end 3-year championship drought. Will Alabama, Georgia, LSU or Texas come through?

The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is struggling to overcome a three-year championship drought in college football. Once a dominant league with 19 national titles since 1990, the SEC has not appeared in a College Football Playoff (CFP) since Georgia's back-to-back victories in 2021-22. Now, the conference faces an even more challenging task to return to prominence, thanks to the addition of a ninth conference game.

SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey acknowledges that this extra game creates the most demanding sets of schedules in college football, both for the teams and the conference itself. The 2023 and 2024 College Football Playoffs included Alabama's absence, and the previous year saw Tennessee lose to Ohio State. Meanwhile, the Big Ten has claimed three consecutive national titles, and the SEC's playoff record over the last three seasons stands at just 5-8, with two victories against other conference opponents.

Despite initial divisions over the nine-game schedule, SEC coaches ultimately agreed that it would not prevent their conference from competing for a spot in the CFP.