Since the year 2000, only twice has the college football national champion come from above the Mason Dixon line. Both of those were Ohio State. In that time, the state of Alabama alone has captured seven. It actually doesn’t change that much if you look further back in time, not until you get closer to the ‘40 when Army was still a juggernaut. In other words, when it comes to college football, there’s been little question where the balance of power lies. That is, until this year, when much to my surprise, not one but both teams playing in the title game Monday night hail from states that border Canada. That’s because Michigan and Washington both won their semi-final games, against southern powerhouses, no less. Michigan beat Alabama in overtime, dismissing the most dominant program of the past two decades, and Washington took care of Texas, withstanding a furious final rush. Which means that Michigan and Washington, the only two undefeated teams in college football, will play for the trophy. And while it’s only one game, it feels like a seismic shift for any of us who believe with their entire sense of self that the SEC is the greatest football conference ever imagined.
There are several viable theories for why the south has dominated play year after year, especially in the modern championship era. The most enduring and reasonable are simple – priorities and finances. Southern universities like Alabama and Georgia and Texas put enormous capital behind sports – especially football – and create a culture uniquely supportive of its success. Fourteen of the 20 highest spending athletic departments in the country are in SEC or ACC or Big 12 southern universities, including two that are currently joining the SEC. And while you can’t technically buy a championship, you can recruit top coaching staffs with NFL salaries and build facilities that harken the peak of the Roman empire. You can also pour money into recruiting to lure top talent from across the country – the North included – to your southern campus. Which also turns your program into a natural feeder for the NFL draft, building more interest from five-star high school recruits, rinse and repeat. And for the record, Ohio State and Michigan have the first and fourth best funded programs in the US. So it’s not surprising that they are two rare cases of challenging southern supremacy.
Of course, the landscape of college sports is changing by the hour, far beyond Monday’s big game. With the ability of players to transfer at will and earn money off name, image, and likeness, there’s likely to be more volatility in team success than ever, or at least we’d imagine. If players aren’t happy where they are, or boosters at another campus can find the funding, it’s much easier to buy yourself a contender than ever before, at least if you have fans and alumni that really care about winning football games. Which, of course, may still benefit places like Texas and Georgia and Florida where people do care quite a bit. But it could also mean places like Oregon or Pennsylvania or Michigan where I imagine winning means something as well. Whether the rule changes re-distribute championships or simply reinforces them remains to be seen. But there are titles to be bought and won for the highest bidders.
But one thing I do believe is that finding a way to share the wealth is good for the game, as much as I’m an SEC fan for life. Even in an era of niche viewership, the Michigan/Alabama semi-final game was the highest viewed semi-final game since the first year of the playoffs and the most viewed for a non-NFL sporting event since 2018. Of course, the Michigan brand contributed. But there’s nothing great about having a majority of your viewership feeling increasingly separated from the teams that play and win. With Michigan and Washington in the finals, perhaps other parts of the viewing public might remember they play big time college football in their neck of the woods as well. And I won’t pretend that perhaps a Michigan/Texas final wouldn’t be a bigger draw. But in the long run, spreading the wealth is a good business strategy for a sporting public weary of having the national title be a rematch of the SEC title game. And despite its national appeal, college sports is still a regional enterprise, one played on an increasingly national stage.
That said, I will still have a hard time recognizing a title game played by teams from the northern border. Especially if one of them isn’t Army.
Keith Strudler is the director of the School of Communication and Media at Montclair State University. You can follow him at @KeithStrudler
The views expressed by commentators are solely those of the authors. They do not necessarily reflect the views of this station or its management.