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DESTIN, Fla. -- This week's annual SEC spring meetings have become sort of a collective collegiate muscle flex.

It wasn't just conference groupthink. The league was the best because it cared the most -- and vice versa. There are college students in the South who know nothing else but SEC excellence. The last time prior to 2016 the SEC wasn't unanimously the best in football (Texas beat USC in the 2006 BCS Championship Game), they were in third grade.

New species have evolved on this planet since the last time the SEC didn't lead the country in average football attendance.

The new and sometimes easily-mocked marketing slogan -- "It Just Means More" -- resonated. It described the Southeastern Conference's fervor perfectly.

Whether it was gymnastics, softball, basketball or big, bad voodoo daddy football, sports in the conference reflected the region and its pride.

Let's just say there is some work to be done this week. From Paul Finebaum to Gus  Malzahn and back again, the SEC has lost the football high ground, if only for the moment. In the conference where it means more, the SEC is no longer No. 1 in football.

Heck, it may not even have been No. 2 at the end of last season. The ACC was/is No. 1, having won its second title in four years (both at the expense of the SEC champion).

Urban Meyer and Jim Harbaugh have forced the Big Ten to a new level. Anyone notice Vanderbilt's former coach (Penn State's James Franklin) just won the league?

Yes, SEC flagship Alabama came within a second of locking down another national championship. But that 35-31 loss to Clemson only seemed to rubber-stamp what qualified as a down year.

Each one of the other 13 SEC programs lost at least four games for the first time in league history. Someone has to start stepping up to reinforce the reason the College Football Playoff exists in the first place. Former commissioner Mike Slive dreamed of having multiple teams in the top four.

That dream seems so long ago.

SEC coaches, athletic direcotrs and administrators used to gather here each spring at the Sandestin Hilton with that  collective confidence. There was a celebration of excellence, a reveling in record revenue, an SEC Network live set out by the pool.

None of that has gone away or will anytime soon. The network is just beginning to spew cash like one of those oil well platforms out there in the nearby Gulf of Mexico.

But something's missing this week, and the SEC knows it. The conference has a chip on its shoulder.

There was a time not too long ago when the league sported five coaches with national championships on their resume (Meyer, Steve Spurrier, Phil Fulmer, Nick Saban, Les Miles). This year, they've got five who are entering their first (LSU's Ed Orgeron), second (Missouri's Barry Odom, South Carolina's Will Muschamp, Georgia's Kirby Smart) or third (Florida's Jim McElwain) season at their current schools.

The league's overall quarterbacking must get better. Ole Miss won't be going bowling and faces possible probation.  Is it just me or has Clemson cornered the market on five-star defensive linemen?

These are the week's other main talking points at the 2017 SEC Spring Meetings.

1. Malik Zaire and graduate transfers: It can be argued the SEC has been at a competitive disadvantage because of its stance on graduate transfers. Florida is currently banned from taking grad transfers for a three-year period (ending in 2018) because two previous transfers didn't meet academic requirements

Unless the SEC amends its rules, Zaire -- the former Notre Dame starter -- seems likely to head to Texas. Zaire doesn't seem to be a game changer. If he fit that bill, he would have beaten out Deshone Kizer last season. But at Texas or Florida, he would at least be quality depth.

Tom Herman at Texas has doggedly pursued Zaire citing injury concerns about Shane Buechele and Sam Ehlinger. Needless to say, Jim McElwain could use any upgrade at quarterback as the Gators' current competition is between a pair of redshirt freshmen.  Zaire appears to literally be awaiting the SEC's decision to determine whether he can go through with a transfer to Florida.

2. Alcohol in stadiums: It's coming … everywhere. That would be booze sold to the general public in stadiums. It's revenue. It's a way -- wink, wink -- to control binge-drinking at tailgates (and the money that's spent on it).

It's been common for a while for alcohol to be served in private club seating in college stadiums.

Texas, with its 100,000-seat stadium, now serves alcohol to the public. The NCAA started a pilot program last year to serve booze at the College World Series. (What could go wrong? College students, fake IDs, foul balls reigning destruction from above.)

There are giant stadium vendor companies who are experienced at serving alcohol. But there seems to be something different -- perhaps dangerous? -- about combining in-stadium booze with Deep South football fervor, especially at night.

Tiger Stadium on a Bud Light rush? Yikes.

3. Saban's take: There will be something Alabama's coach will go off on this week. He seems to store up all his angst for this time of year after the draft, after passage of NCAA legislation, and for whatever perceived threat to the empire exists.

I thought Alabama's coach had aired his grievances fairly succinctly in our conversation earlier this month. If I had to guess, Saban will focus on staff sizes, which seems to be in the cross-hairs of the NCAA.

4. Auburn to the SEC East? First of all, dismiss anything Pat Dye says because, well, he's Pat Dye. The former Auburn coach has been out of coaching for a quarter century and has no real say in the situation. He does like to hear himself talk, though. 

But it seems the idea of Auburn moving from the West to the East has at least become a conversation piece. It would supposedly balance out what has become an imbalanced SEC.

The East hasn't won a conference title since 2008. In fact, the East champ has been within two touchdowns once in the title game since that year.

So, yeah, maybe move Missouri to the West for the "better" geographic fit. I'm sure Saban and Malzahn would absolutely love the possibility of playing twice a year. Hey, and maybe in back-to-back games! 

Also on the docket? A new home for the SEC Baseball Tournament. Stronger nonconference schedules for basketball. A review of collaborative replay. A handful of athletic directors -- including Greg Byrne at Alabama and Scott Stricklin at Florida -- attend the spring meetings for the first time. Student-athlete time demands. College football staff sizes.