Jacksonville Jaguars: The South is on the rise
By Kathy Clark
The Big Ten, Big Eight, and an occasional Texas or California team dominated college football for many years. That domination slowly ended when Alabama entered the scene.
The south started to rise. Soon Bama followed by other SEC and ACC teams began to dominate college football. In fact the final four play off teams in college football in 2017 were three southern teams and the final two are both from the south. The NFL may follow the same trend.
The 2017 wildcard playoffs featured five of twelve teams from the AFC and NFC South divisions. Even more amazing is four of the eight second round playoff teams are also from the south. These teams were the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Tennessee Titans, the New Orleans Saints, the Carolina Panthers, and the Atlanta Falcons. There may have been five but two southern teams, the Saints and Panthers, played each other in the first round. Is this a trend? Could it be the start of southern domination? Only time will tell.
Of the fifty one Super Bowl games played only four winner are from the south. Miami Dolphins won two, New Orleans Saints won one and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers won one. As a result the Super Bowl games were dominated by teams from the north and west. Sadly the south has been a non factor in the Super Bowl.
College football is part of the southern DNA. Ties run deep and rivalries loom large. For example the statement “My favorite team is the Gators and whoever is playing the Seminoles” is true. (Fill in your own team names) unfortunately the NFL hasn’t really matched the importance of the college game in the south. However if the teams play meaningful post season games for a few years it could change.
Northern NFL teams have a strong fan base. For example the Pittsburgh Steelers, Green Bay Packers, New York Giants etc. have very loyal fans. They travel and they cheer win or lose. Sadly the southern NFL teams don’t have that loyalty yet. As the south teams become stronger they may develop that same loyalty.
In conclusion I say….Go Jaguars! Who dat Saints team! Three cheers for the Titans! Atlanta rules!