SEC commissioner Mike Slive likes to compare the SEC’s streak of seven consecutive national championships in the BCS era with one of the great streaks in sports history, Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak. Slive said no conference will be able to match what the SEC did in the BCS.
“I put what we accomplished in the context of Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak,” Slive said in a Q&A with Tony Barnhart for the SEC Digital Network. “I don’t think anybody is ever going to win seven straight national championships again—unless it’s us.”
Florida State snapped the SEC’s bid for an eighth straight national championship when the Seminoles rallied in the fourth quarter to edge SEC champion Auburn in dramatic fashion. Though Auburn took the loss that brought an end to the streak, Slive does not want the accomplishments of the conference during the BCS era to be forgotten.
“Auburn played such a great game but the only problem was that the game was about one minute too long,” Slive told Barnhart with a laugh. “I just remember not wanting a tough loss in any way to diminish what our conference had accomplished in the BCS era. We won nine of the 16 championships. We almost closed it out with eight straight.”
The 2014 season will see the beginning of the College Football Playoff, with the top four teams to compete for the national championship will be chosen by a selection committee, a process endorsed by Slive. As the sport moves to a new championship model, Slive remains optimistic the SEC will be enjoying success for years to come.
“There are a lot of things about the playoff that excite us,” Slive said.
You can read the full Slive interview here.