Gene Frenette: This might be year for SEC to get knocked off its national championship perch

College football has been teetering dangerously close to becoming a monopoly, courtesy of a dominant Southeastern Conference that keeps raising national championship trophies and spitting out NFL players and first-round draft picks at alarmingly high rates.

Three different SEC schools have captured the last four national titles, continuing a bullying trend by a league that had by far the most players on NFL opening-day rosters this year, with 367.

Between the Alabama dynasty harvested by coach Nick Saban, and with his former assistant Kirby Smart reeling off back-to-back national championships at Georgia, the SEC is on an unprecedented historical streak of capturing 13 national titles in the past 17 seasons.

More from Gene: Jaguars' defense saves the day, but offense better step it up against the Bills

Is this the year somebody outside the mighty SEC finally hoists the trophy? Will one of the promising unbeatens like Michigan, Florida State, Southern Cal, Texas, Washington or Ohio State take center stage in the College Football Playoff?

It certainly looks like it’s a greater possibility than in recent memory as customary stalwarts Georgia and ‘Bama show increasing signs of vulnerability. LSU, pegged to be in the championship mix in the preseason, likely removed itself from title contention after suffering a second defeat last week in a 55-49 shootout loss to Ole Miss.

Georgia barely survived a scare at Auburn, pulling out a 27-20 victory on a 40-yard TD pass in the closing minutes from Mandarin High product Carson Beck to star tight end Brock Bowers. It marked the second time against two middle-of-the-pack SEC opponents that the Bulldogs had to overcome a double-digit deficit to win the game.

A showdown looms Saturday with unbeaten and 20th-ranked Kentucky, which should reveal more about how well Georgia can handle the weekly load of getting everybody’s best shot.

So far, Alabama looks nothing like the Saban juggernaut that terrorized college football for over a decade. The Crimson Tide got handled by Texas, and serious questions remain whether quarterback Jalen Milroe can consistently jumpstart an offense averaging 32.2 points per game, 50th in the country.

That leaves the question of who outside the SEC might be best equipped to win it all. Unbeatens USC (53.6 ppg), Oregon (51.6), Washington (47.4) and Washington State (45.8) have four of the top five highest-scoring teams in the country, but can one of them survive the deep Pac-12 well enough to gain a CFP berth that has been consistently elusive?

Michigan looks awfully good again, as do Big Ten East division rivals Penn State and Ohio State, which has the benefit of a CFP resume-builder after pulling out a last-second road win over Notre Dame.

FSU might have the best shot of running the regular-season table with LSU and Clemson already among its victims. But can the Seminoles and quarterback Jordan Travis avoid a sabotaging ACC upset loss that tends to hit them every year?

It’s early October, so who knows how the landscape might change once America sits down at the Thanksgiving table. But for the first time in years, it appears there’s a deeper pool of legitimate CFP contenders outside the SEC.

Greg Sankey won’t agree, but it’d be healthier for college football to have a national championship matchup like USC-Michigan, Texas-FSU, Oregon-Ohio State or some other non-SEC combination.

Nothing against the SEC, which once went through a dry spell of winning just one national title in a 15-season stretch (1981-95).

It’s just that college football could use some new blood at the top. If not this year, you have to wonder when somebody outside the SEC basks in national championship confetti.

A fond London memory

One of the more popular players in Jaguars history was Allen Hurns, who made the team in 2014 and finished top-five in NFL history in catches (51), yards (677) and touchdowns (6) among undrafted receivers in their rookie season.

With the Jaguars facing the Buffalo Bills on Sunday at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, it stirs memories of Hurns’ signature moment during his four-year run (2014-17) in Jacksonville.

It came on Oct. 25, 2015, the occasion of the Jaguars’ first victory in London against Buffalo at Wembley Stadium. After the Jaguars blew a 27-3 lead and were on the verge of losing, Hurns beat Bills cornerback Corey Graham and made a diving catch in the end zone on a 31-yard pass from Blake Bortles with 2:16 left for a 34-31 victory.

Only three minutes earlier, Graham had a 44-yard interception return for a TD to put Buffalo ahead. Hurns’ heroics allowed him to reach the 1,000-yard receiving mark that season for the only time in his career, finishing with 1,031 yards and 10 TDs.

“It’s for sure my top moment in football,” said Hurns, who retired after the Miami Dolphins released him in March, 2022. “That’s something I’ll always remember years and decades from now. People still come up to me and bring up that touchdown.”

Hurns opted out of the 2020 season due to COVID-19, but never played again after going on injured reserve with a wrist injury during the 2021 preseason. Hurns said he knew then his career was done, and he still feels pain in the wrist to this day.

Now 32, Hurns, a Miami native, lives in Davie with his girlfriend, Tabitha, and their two sons, Chase (turns 3 later this month) and 1-year-old Carter. He is heavily involved in commercial real estate investments and private equity, saying he wants to create “generational wealth” for his family.

Ryder Cup home advantage

Europe’s 16.5-11.5 victory over the Americans in the Ryder Cup at Marco Simone in Italy, led by Rory McIlroy winning four matches, continues a recent trend of home team dominance as the host team has won the last five events by an average margin of 6.6 points.

The disparity favoring the home team has caused some in the golf media to suggest the Ryder Cup might need some tweaking (no foursomes?) to reignite the drama, like what existed from 1987-99 when seven events were decided by a combined eight points.

The reality is lopsided scores happen in all sports, and the recent Ryder Cup results does nothing to diminish hope for any away team entering the competition. They all believe going in they can win on foreign soil, something the U.S. hasn’t done since 1993.

Look, Europe found a way to win here in 2012 (Medinah), 2004 (Oakland Hills) and 1995 (Oak Hill CC). America will just have to figure it out in 2027 at Adare Manor in Ireland, like maybe not having most of the team being idle and not playing any competitive golf for five weeks prior to the event.

But there’s no reason to change the Ryder Cup format because of recent home team blowouts. It’s sports. Players simply must perform better in the big moments.

Quick-hitting nuggets

The emphasis by coach Doug Pederson on staying disciplined has paid off so far as the Jaguars are the least penalized team in the NFL, drawing just 15 flags for 129 total yards. Amazingly, the Jaguars’ defense has zero penalties for pass interference or holding through four games. …

Baltimore Orioles outfielder Austin Hays and relief pitcher Michael Baumann, former teammates at Jacksonville University, became the first Dolphins to play on the same MLB team this season. But it’s still uncertain if they’ll be together in the postseason, which begins Saturday for the O’s against the AL wild-card winning Texas Rangers. While Hays (.267, 16 HR, 67 RBI) is an everyday starter, Baumann (10-1, 3.76 ERA) remains on the team’s taxi squad for the postseason, remaining eligible to be called up later in the playoffs.

Baumann was inconsistent down the stretch and got optioned back to Triple-A Norfolk in August, then was recalled in mid-September and sent back down a week later to Triple-A. Hays will try to become the first MLB player with a Jacksonville connection to earn a World Series ring since Washington Nationals infielder and West Nassau High product Howie Kendrick won it all in 2019. It's possible Hays could face Rangers' pitcher Dane Dunning, a Clay High alumnus, in the next round of AL playoffs. …

With the Minnesota Twins snapping an 18-game playoff losing streak Tuesday by beating the Toronto Blue Jays 3-1 — the longest postseason drought in the four major American sports — the pressure now shifts to the NBA Detroit Pistons to end their misery. Detroit is currently on a 14-game playoff losing streak, which began with a 106-102 defeat to the Boston Celtics in Game 5 of the 2008 Eastern Conference finals. . . .

The announced attendance for the Tampa Bay Rays' Game 1 wild-card game against the Texas Rangers was a shameful 19,704. Not sure which is worse -- Kevin Cash's team getting swept by a combined score of 11-1 or the fan base, even with an outdated venue in a weird location, caring so little to not show up for playoff baseball. . . .

Pigskin forecast

Jaguars over Bills by 1 (Trevor-seizing moment); Indianapolis Colts over Tennessee Titans by 3 (Gardner Minshew tongue bites); Houston Texans over Atlanta Falcons by 1 (trustworthy QB); New York Jets over Denver Broncos by 4 (Nate Hackett cold dishes of revenge); Dallas Cowboys over San Francisco 49ers by 1 (Dak Prescott exorcism); Florida over Vanderbilt by 10 (dink-and-dunk passes); Texas A&M over Alabama by 1 (rescinded CFP invitation). Last week: 5 right, 2 Timuquana vandalism cowards.

Gfrenette@jacksonville.com: (904) 359-4540 

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: SEC has owned college football national title, but maybe not this year