re: Rank the SEC champions of the 1980s...

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The sport evolved a lot over that decade. Go watch those early 80s teams and compare them to what we saw later. Small lineman, slow LBers, white dudes in the secondary and WR and QBs who mainly handed the ball off.

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White boys were common in the secondary until the late 80's early 90's. Ole Miss had Chauncey Godwin, a white corner from Tupelo, Todd Sandroni, a safety from Indianola, Roger Hancock, a safety from Alabama, and Jeff Carter another safety in the secondary. Godwin led the SEC in INTs in 89, and Sandroni did in 87. As a high school safety in the late 80's it wasn't all that far fetched to think you might could get a shot in the SEC. Something changed around the mid 90's, and a lot of white boys quit playing high school football and stayed with baseball and soccer.

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The sport evolved a lot over that decade. Go watch those early 80s teams and compare them to what we saw later. Small lineman, slow LBers, white dudes in the secondary and WR and QBs who mainly handed the ball off.

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Yep. The 1980s were a huge transitional period for the sport of football as a whole as you started to see the passing game become more relevant in both college and the NFL. Teams like San Francisco in the NFL and Miami at the collegiate level spearheaded that transition.