SEC Gods Made BIG End to Cupcake Week

Letter to Romans: SEC fans are outraged conference ended its “cupcake weekend” tradition after claiming for years how its schedules & teams are “best in the nation.” When was the last time a team from the SEC won national title instead of the Big Ten?

Not that SEC football didn’t dominate much of the collegiate sport for decades. Bravo for giving us great games to watch. But there’s growing evidence the SEC’s hard-earned mythological immortality has turned into sounding more like worn out hype than reality on the gridiron. And it’s not just because no conference team has won the national title since 2022. Nor is it just because the teams making up the conference have recently if not always been getting whipped by top-rated nonconference opponents, at least, more than the fans would admit. Then again, the Big Ten aka 18 have wallowed in the SEC’s shadow for so long they have clearly found a way to flip the script, as its Michigan, Ohio State & Indiana sailed to that national championship in 2023, 2024 & 2025. That way to the golden goose, of course, is the introduction of the NCAA’s “pay to play” transfer portal rules allowing top talent to go to the highest bidder with the most money to throw at them. How else explain Indiana’s mercurial rise to the top of the heap in 2025 after a history of ignominious defeat?

As Austin Perry, an avowed SEC fanatic explained in an Outkick piece, the now-banned “’Cupcake weekend’ was generally the slate of games right before rivalry weekend.” He insists that “for diehard SEC fans such as myself, it’s just the death of another tradition that we once held so dear … Fans of other conferences are likely cheering this news, as they have viewed this week of games as a slap in the face to competitive college football late in the season.” Austin’s right about the growing sense of loss in the SEC. But he’s wrong about others “cheering” its cupcake ban; they’re cheering the reluctant recognition that the SEC's fans, PR folks & elite teams can no longer have their cake & eat it too.

Davd Soul