Alabama won the SEC’s fourth-straight national title last year. Will the streak continue in 2010? Photo courtesy of Alabama athletics There’s no doubt the Southeastern Conference is the king of the college football world – having won four-straight BCS National Championship games.

The league also has the highest number of AP preseason Top 25 teams (6).

The SEC is a perfect 6-0 in national title games, and has imposed its will on the rest of the college football landscape for the last four years; but producing a fifth-straight BCS National Champion in 2010 may be more than even this college football juggernaut can achieve.

That leaves us with three important questions:

Can it be done?

History suggests that it can be done, and that the SEC is the conference most likely to do it.

Since the end of World War II, the SEC and Big 12 (current members) have each had two five- and two seven-year periods during which a conference team won at least a share of the national title.

With the SEC’s streak in tact, it is obviously the conference with the greatest chance of repeating the feat.

Which teams can do it?

For the third straight season, Alabama and Florida enter as the favorites to win their respective divisions. So, it goes without saying, really, that they are also the teams with the best chance at keeping the national championship streak alive.

Arkansas, Auburn, Georgia, LSU and South Carolina figure to have improved from last season, and each could potentially compete for the SEC crown. The raised level of competition within the conference, however, leads us directly into the next burning question.

What hurdles must be overcome?

This top-to-bottom balance is the first hurdle for BCS title run. It’s not a stretch to say that any of the afore-mentioned teams would likely be conference winners if playing in another league. Simply put, an SEC conference schedule is brutal.

An early head-to-head showdown between conference favorites means either Alabama or Florida will have at least one loss after their Oct. 2 meeting in Tuscaloosa.

There are now more teams like Boise State and TCU that are playing tougher schedules, have the ability to go undefeated and could wind up in one of the Top 2 spots in the final BCS rankings. This could be the year that the tables are turned, and a oneloss SEC team gets left out in favor of an undefeated team from another conference.

Loss of talent and inexperience on the rosters of Alabama and Florida could also be a factor. One thing we know, however, is that teams of this caliber certainly do not have a lack of talent, and you can be sure that the new faces playing for these squads are no chumps.

Simple math could also be a sign of change – specifically the Law of Averages. The SEC is 4-0 in the last four BCS Championship games and 6-0 overall. Sustaining a pace of such overwhelming success as a conference seems like a tough proposition.

There’s no doubt 2010 will be an exciting year, but will it be the SEC’s year for the fifth time in a row?