NCAA Championships By Conference (2013-2014)

There is a lot of talk about which athletic conference is the best in the country. Usually, it defaults to the SEC because of their recent dominance in football. That conference sure has been successful, but as I have argued on here I believe that talk is inflated. Historically, the SEC has overrated their value in the sports landscape and their success. They also tend to take credit for things they don't deserve (like Ole Miss taking credit for an Alabama National Title because SEC!). Now, usually I do not try to indulge this talk, but sometimes I do. However, the SEC claimed 7 National Titles for the academic year (2013-2014) when they won 6 in NCAA sanctioned sports. They are claiming a title in the non-sanctioned sport of equestrian. That is like the Pac 12 counting a title in Ultimate Frisbee because Colorado won. I'd count Frisbee before I counted Equestrian, but that's just me. What's to be expected though when Auburn and Alabama claim national titles that don't exist all the time? Right?

Anyways, I decided to use the SEC's measuring stick since they are counting titles for the 2013-2014 academic year. However, I am only counting sports that are sanctioned by the NCAA. In order to save you time, I have separated these titles by conference. Additionally, I have only counted the traditional power (BCS) conferences.

ACC (5 Championships)
Women's Golf - Duke
Men's Lacrosse - Duke
Women's Lacrosse - Maryland (Leaving for the Big 10)
Football - Florida State
Men's Soccer - Notre Dame

The ACC had a strong showing during this past academic year with 5 championships. Eventhough one of those championships was by a team that is leaving the conference for the Big 10 with 14 teams. Louisville, will be taking Maryland's spot in the ACC and has just as good a shot to compete for titles next season. More importantly though, Louisville is much more competitive than Maryland in revenue sports adding to the conferences overall profile.

Florida State's win in the biggest money generating sport was huge for the ACC. However, I must admit that the win alone did not meet my expectations for Florida State overall. I thought that FSU would deliver two National Championships and they were very competitive in several, but not champions. The closest team was the Women's Soccer team that lost the championship to UCLA. Close doesn't count though and FSU fell short of my prediction. Can't complain about being champs in the greatest sport though.

Finally, Duke was huge this past year. They won the most championships in the conference with 2 and got much better in football. The Blue Devils took Johnny Football to the limit in the bowl game and reached the ACC Championship in Football for the 1st time in school history. Solid, but not spectacular year from the ACC as a whole.

American Athletic Conference (3 Championships)
Men's Basketball - UCONN
Women's Basketball - UCONN
Field Hockey - UCONN

The American Athletic Conference actually did pretty well on the championship front. This conference actually outperformed another power conference in the number of championships obtained. You will find that out later, but you will notice a trend in the national titles for the AAC. Every AAC title was won by UCONN. That's right, the UCONN Huskies won 3 National Titles in the 2013-2014 academic year. This school did a fantastic job in carrying the banner for the AAC. They owned the basketball world and showed up as big as possible in several sports. With UCONN tying a few other schools with 3 championships, the AAC should not be any more proud of UCONN. The question is whether UCONN will remain in the AAC much longer.

Big 10 (5 Championships)
Rowing - Ohio State
Fencing - Penn State
Men's Gymnastics - Michigan
Wrestling - Penn State
Women's Volleyball - Penn State

The Big 10 had a great year with 5 championships. They were led by a resurgent Penn State program that seems to have risen from the ashes of the scandal in a few sports. The Nittany Lions won 3 championships across their sports programs which is tied for tops in the country. Pretty amazing for a program that looked to be in shambles in the recent past. Their dominant volleyball team won another title and they were joined by Fencing and Wrestling on the championship front. A terrific season from Penn State.
The two other power programs from the conference (Michigan and Ohio State) also picked up a national title. Ohio State looks to be one of the favorites to play in the upcoming football playoff as well. The Big 10 is healthy as a conference on the championship front.

Big 12 (2 Championships)
Women's Gymnastics - Oklahoma (Co-Champion)
Rifle - West Virginia

The Big 12 struggled more than any other conference to get championships. These guys only picked up two championships for the entire conference and one of them was a split title. The other title was in rifle which many people didn't even know was a sanctioned sport. The Big 12 has got to pick it up. However, the Oklahoma football team is looking quite strong heading into the fall behind a big Sugar Bowl win over Alabama.

Pac 12 (10 Championships)
Men's Tennis - Southern California
Women's Tennis - UCLA
Outdoor Men's Track - Oregon
Women's Water Polo - Stanford
Men's Swimming and Diving - California
Men's Indoor Track - Oregon
Women's Indoor Track - Oregon
Women's Soccer - UCLA
Men's Water Polo - Southern California
Men's Cross Country - Colorado

The Pac 12 had a dominant 2013-2014 Academic Year. These guys won 10 championships for the conference during the year which was the most out of any conference. Three programs won multiple national titles out of the Pac 12. One of those programs tied for the most in the nation by winning 3 separate national championships. Absolutely tremendous year for the Pac 12 from top to bottom.

When most people think of the Oregon Ducks, they think of all the crazy uniform combinations that the football team wears. However, Oregon is the birthplace of Nike and it was born and breed because of track. It is one of the many reasons that Oregon's track team is consistently near the top. This year the track program was beyond awesome. Oregon track won three national championships this past academic year. The men won in both indoor and outdoor, while the women won indoor. Absolutely amazing year from Oregon track.
USC and UCLA were no slouches in the past academic year when it came to sports. Each of these programs picked up a pair of national championships. Seven national championships between three schools is absolutely an incredible feat. Those three schools won more national championships than any conference just by themselves. Don't look for them to stop either. Oregon and UCLA are both strong contenders for the newly created college football playoff.

SEC (6 Championships)
Baseball - Vanderbilt
Men's Golf - Alabama
Softball - Florida
Women's Track Outdoor - Texas A&M
Women's Gymnastics - Florida (Co-Champion)
Women's Swimming and Diving - Georgia

So, we see that the SEC won the 2nd highest number of championships as a conference. An absolutely amazing job by the SEC, but not the level that their fans are promoting. They should be thrilled that they won 6 championships and proud of the conference. Everyone should be celebrating the incredible season that Vanderbilt baseball had, but that is not how they roll in the SEC. This conference has to justify that it pummels the rest of the country. It is a strong conference and better than the competition most years, but let's take a chill pill.
The SEC's championship total was boosted by the ladies of the University of Florida. They won two national titles and did so in impressive fashion. (Side Note: Interesting how when FSU girls dominate Florida it is because they were a girl school and UF doesn't care, but when UF wins its parade time). Florida had a very strong year from their women's athletic program.
The biggest win for the SEC had to be Vanderbilt's baseball championship. That championship put the SEC total at 6 and allowed them to finish in second place ahead of the ACC. Had Vanderbilt lost to the Cavaliers, the ACC would have had 6 to the SEC's 5. That awesome series victory for Vanderbilt was the banner moment of the season for the SEC.

This conference will again be strong in the 2014-2015 school year. It has several championship contenders in several sports. Next year they may pass the Pac 12 in championships, but for this year the Pac 12 reigns supreme.

-Noland