The winning streak for the SEC in the BCS title game is five with LSU and Alabama expected to have a chance for another ring.
While the SEC dominates the gridiron, it obviously plays some pretty good baseball.
For the first time in history, three teams from one conference were in the Final Four of the College World Series.
Under the current format, it was also the first time two teams from the same conference went head-to-head in the finals.
Florida, Vanderbilt, and South Carolina all had great seasons, but the Gamecocks dominated the championship series to repeat as national champions.
With a repeat by the Gamecocks and a sixth title by LSU in 2009, the SEC is now dominating the world series.
With a 5-2 victory over Florida behind the stellar pitching of junior left-hander Michael Roth, the Gamecocks won their second consecutive NCAA championship, becoming the sixth program to repeat along with Texas (1949-50), Southern Cal (1970-74), Stanford (1987-88), LSU (1996-97) and Oregon State (2006-07) to repeat as CWS champions.
Heading into the finals, I thought Florida had the better chance to win the series, but South Carolina played better baseball for two nights in a row.
Roth said as the celebration went on around him Tuesday night, “We’re not the most talented team, and we don’t have the best players position for position,” Roth said, “but we go out and stick together as a team. We battle. I can’t describe it. We’re a bunch of average Joes and love each other and come out and battle.”
Those “Average Joes” won their record 16th consecutive NCAA tournament game, breaking the record set by Texas in 1983-84.
And by winning their 11th consecutive CWS game, they broke the record set by Southern Cal in 1972-74 and matched by LSU in 1996-98.
With a 10-0 run in the NCAA tournament, South Carolina became the first team to go unbeaten in the postseason since Miami went 9-0 in 2001.
The last team to go unbeaten in the CWS was Oregon State in 2007.
“I couldn’t imagine this before it happened,” South Carolina coach Ray Tanner said.
“It’s one of those things that you think about the odds of being able to come two years in a row and winning it back-to-back. You can’t even go there.
“I was hoping we could have a good year and win a regional, maybe a Super Regional, and get back to the new stadium. But it never even entered my mind that we could go back and win it again.”
Listening to the talking heads after the series concluded Tuesday night, the experts predicted that Florida or South Carolina could be back in the championship series in 2012.
LSU fans are hopeful the Tigers can make it back to Omaha and win another title.
It will interesting to see which SEC teams make the run for the next football and baseball championships.
Perhaps even a SEC softball team can finally win the title in 2012.
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