“The SEC will be back”: CFB insider shows faith in Paul Finebaum’s favorite conference despite shaky track record since 2023

For the second consecutive season, the SEC hasn't made an appearance in the College Football Playoff National Championship Game. This is undoubtedly a downtime for the conference that has dominated the college football landscape with its top teams for close to two decades.

While many continue to raise concerns about the current state of the conference, football analyst Kevin Clark believes the conference will be back to claim its rightful place. In his appearance on “The Paul Finebaum Show,” on Tuesday, he expressed some confidence in the league.

“The SEC will be back,” Clark said. “The SEC will be back to being the best conference in the world, I promise you. It's just the way the recruiting pipeline works. When I was talking about Ohio State earlier – remember, most of those guys, top-end guys are still in high school recruiting.

Prior to Ohio State's national championship success against Notre Dame on Monday night, the SEC had won 12 of the last 18 national titles in college football. The likes of Alabama, Georgia, LSU, Auburn and Florida all won the title, making the conference the gold standard of the CFB landscape.

Kevin Clark believes SEC will be able to spend

In an era where NIL is a hallmark of college football, having a significant budget to spend on recruiting is crucial. To be competitive in the landscape, programs have to be able to present lucrative financial packages to recruits in a bid to convince them to commit.

Kevin Clark has no doubt the SEC will be able to spend and remain strong in recruiting. The analyst believes a host of teams in the conference has a brilliant blueprint to execute amazingly in the new era of college football.

"I'm not going to doubt the state of Georgia can't get a bunch of money together to spend like Ohio State did this year," Clark said. "I'm not going to bet against Alabama to be able to find the funds. The University of Florida, I'm sure can rattle around the couch cushions and be able to spend.

"What Ohio State had was an awesome roster augmented by – I think 25% of the starters were from the portal. Kirby can now do that, he knows what the blueprint is. Kalen DeBoer can now do that. These teams are close," he added.

The SEC will be out again in the 2025 college football season to reclaim the national championship following the disappointment of 2024. Teams like Texas, Georgia, Alabama and LSU are expected to be strong contenders for the ultimate goals.