The Southeastern Conference‘s longstanding motto of “It Just Means More” has been ripe for ridicule this postseason, especially for opposing Power Four programs. Case in point, No. 23 Iowa football’s social media team used the phrase to troll the SEC at large following the Hawkeyes’ 34-27 win over No. 14 Vanderbilt in the ReliaQuest Bowl on New Year’s Eve.
That was just one of double-digit bowl defeats for the SEC, which capped the 2025-26 postseason with a disappointing 4-10 record overall, including just 1-8 versus the ACC, Big Ten and Big 12. That includes a winless 0-4 mark against the ACC and a 1-3 record vs. the Big Ten, which has won the last two CFP national championships and will play for a third when No. 1 Indiana takes on No. 10 Miami in next Monday’s College Football Playoff national title game.
In fact, following No. 6 Ole Miss‘ 31-27 loss to the Hurricanes in last week’s Fiesta Bowl CFP semifinal, the SEC — winners of 13 national titles in 17 years between 2006-22 — was officially shut out of playing in a third consecutive national championship game, something it hasn’t experienced since 2000-02.
Paul Finebaum to SEC fans amid league’s postseason struggles: ‘This is the reality’
It’s the hard-to-swallow reality that the SEC is no longer the King of College Football that ESPN firebrand Paul Finebaum — known as “the Mouth of the South” — believes is a “reckoning” within the sport.
“There’s a reckoning going on,” Finebaum said on Wednesday’s edition of The Matt Barrie Show podcast with ESPN anchor Matt Barrie. “On Saturday afternoon, I was walking around in my neighborhood (in Birmingham) and an Alabama fan — a nice lady, very prominent in the Alabama circles — said, ‘I’m starting to think it wasn’t so bad we only lost to Indiana by 35 points if Oregon lost by 34.’ And I said: ‘You can’t measure your program that way, please.’ But that’s how weird things have gotten.”
Finebaum was highlighting the disappointment emanating from a disenchanted Crimson Tide fanbase upset with second-year head coach Kalen DeBoer, whose 2025 season ended with a dismal 38-3 loss to the top-ranked Hoosiers in the Rose Bowl national quarterfinal on New Year’s Day. That lopsided defeat aside, the SEC at large is dealing with a harsh reality that it is no longer the top dog in college football.
“There’s just (this sense that) you can’t fight your way through this,” Finebaum added. “This is the reality, and I think a lot of people — and I know I’m getting the arrows coming after me from the SEC — but there’s no one reason why the SEC is sitting at home on Monday night. There are a multiple amount of reasons, but most of them are just it’s where we are right now, and they had it so good (for much of the last two decades).”