John Adams: It's the SEC vs. everyone else ... and the SEC is winning

At the risk of sports sacrilege, I have a message for college football programs outside the SEC: "Give up."

I realize that contradicts the very essence of athletic competition, which teaches us to keep trying no matter what the odds, and to keep getting up no matter how many times we get knocked down.

But sports doesn't teach us to detach ourselves from reality.

Reality: There are two divisions in college football, and I'm not referring to the FBS and the FCS. It's the SEC and everybody else.

If you haven't figured that out by now, your head is buried in synthetic turf.

The SEC just won its seventh consecutive national championship. And that's only the tip of the juggernaut.

Check out the top-25 rankings. Give me an "S."

Check out the NFL mock drafts. Give me an "E."

Check out the recruiting rankings. Give me a "C."

What's that spell?

It spells "game over."

That doesn't mean some talented revved-up team from college football's second division can't beat an SEC team. The recent bowls proved that.

Northwestern upset Mississippi State. Louisville embarrassed Florida. And Clemson beat LSU, which supposedly has more NFL-caliber players than the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Those outcomes provide just enough exceptions to the rule to convince the rest of college football that the national championship is an open competition.

In fact, an SEC outsider would have had a better chance of finding Big Foot, the Loch Ness Monster and Manti Te'o's girlfriend on the same day as beating Alabama in last month's national championship game.

Not convinced of the SEC's dominance? Then check out an NFL mock draft. I don't care if it's NFL-certified or compiled by your next-door neighbor, it will reek of SEC superiority.

The mock draft I chose projects five SEC players being taken in the first nine picks and 13 in the first round.

The rest of college football's likely response to those NFL-bound SEC-types: "Good riddance."

But don't get your hopes up, guys. The SEC is all about reloading and repeating.

You think Alabama's bludgeoning of Notre Dame was discouraging? Wednesday's signing day will be even grimmer for the large majority of teams that aren't under the SEC umbrella.

Four SEC teams — Alabama, Texas A&M, Georgia and Florida — that finished No. 9 or better in The Associated Press' top-25 poll also are ranked among the top-nine teams in national recruiting polls.

Translation: Alabama won't be the only SEC team celebrating on national signing day.

Alabama and Florida are in the mix for the No. 1-ranked class. More than two-thirds of the SEC likely will have a top-25 class.

The league's recruiting depth is almost as great a testament to its prominence as those seven consecutive national titles.

Ole Miss was 2-10 two years ago. Now, it's coming off a 7-6 season and threatening to pull in a top-10 recruiting class.

Auburn didn't win an SEC game in 2012, brought in a new coaching staff and is recruiting at a top-15 pace.

Tennessee has had three consecutive losing seasons. It fired coach Derek Dooley and hired Butch Jones. But it still could have a top-20 recruiting class.

What does that tell the rest of college football?

Give up.

John Adams is a senior columnist. He may be reached at 865-342-6284 or adamsj@knoxnews.com. Follow him at http://twitter.com/johnadamskns.