Assistant pilot project could help expand the universal goal of more care for more Missourians.


Meanwhile, the existing 100-year- plus-old membership structure has (finally) officially begun a needed facelift raising the culture of den- tistry to be even more sophisticated and efficient and inclusive. Just last month a new association manage- ment system was launched promis- ing members a much more user- friendly and connected membership experience. New membership mod- els are being piloted to simplify and customize the member experience at value-driven rates. The best minds are investing wisely, using cutting edge resources, working with new tools, and displaying great passion with a win-now mentality to both modify and preserve the profession for this generation and beyond.


How will all this play out? How many of you will ride the occasion- ally turbulent wave of transition? How many wins will it typically take to secure success?


There could be some difficult sea- sons. Just how committed are you to this grand profession and the effort it takes to protect it, promote it and advance it to the trophy presenta- tion? We’re all going to find out together.


Whether all this strikes you as excit- ing or disorienting, or both, is up to you. New expectations and new rhythms on the calendar are going to take some getting used to. But there is no going back. At the end of the day — or the end of an era, as it were — it’s still dentistry, being conducted at a higher level than ever before.


Email paul@modentalmail. org and visit modental.org/ blog to read “The Week That Was” for his reporting on MDA people, activities and programs.


SDS’ Ultimate 2024 SEC Preview: New era, higher stakes, same pecking order?


W


hen we talk about distinct eras, it’s usually in the past tense. One day you stop, take a look around, and realize everything that was once familiar has changed so slowly you barely noticed. Not so for SEC football, or for college football in gen-


eral. Instead, the 2024 season arrives less like the uncanny result of a series of vague, subtle shifts over time than the hazy aftermath of a meteor strike. Quakes, fissures and extinctions have convulsed the sport, culminating in a dramatically altered landscape that has rapidly taken shape before our eyes. It feels palpably different: The beginning of a new era that everyone has seen coming, with varying levels of dread, from a hundred miles away.


Consider how much has changed since 2023. Divisions: Gone. For the first time since 1991 the wall that separated the East from the West no longer exists. Longstanding scheduling formats have been scrapped, and the SEC Championship Game will simply match the two teams with the best conference records, period. Nick Saban: Gone. The GOAT hung it up in January, leaving the most entrenched dynasty in college football history in limbo. The SEC On CBS: Gone. The conference’s new media deal grants exclusive rights to ABC/ESPN, end- ing nearly three decades of its biggest games unfolding against the backdrop of late-autumn Saturday afternoons turning into Saturday evenings on CBS. The original, 4-team version of the College Football Playoff: Gone. On the heels of its first true controversy, the decade- old CFP has expanded to an even dozen, with 5 guaranteed slots reserved for conference champs and an undefined approach to filling out the rest that’s guaranteed to cultivate a new generation of angst.


Meanwhile, the existing pack has finally, officially added two new apex predators, Oklahoma and Texas, raising the culture of dog-eat-dog competition to an even more unforgiving level of intensity. Look at these schedules. In a league where at least 9 or 10 teams figure to harbor legitimate Playoff ambitions in any given year, even the definition of what qualifies as a “good” season is suddenly up for debate.


How many of the 7 at-large CFP slots will typically go to SEC also-rans? Three? Four? How many wins will it typically take to secure one? Ten? Eleven? Somebody with elite tastes has gotta finish in 9th or 10th place; is a coach who puts a nationally competitive product on the field and still winds up in the Liberty Bowl due to a brutal schedule automatically on the hot seat? (Get ready for that question to come up early and often.) And just how committed is the Playoff committee to weighing strength of schedule across conferences, anyway? What kind of consideration will they give the loser of the conference championship game for hav- ing endured an additional test that other 1- or 2-loss teams didn’t? We’re all going to find out together, the committee included.


Whether all of that strikes you as exciting or disorienting, or both, is up to you. New ex- pectations and new rhythms on the calendar are going to take some getting used to. (And, of course, by the time we all do the suits will be ready to shake it all up again.) But there is no going back. At the end of the day — or the end of an era, as it were — it’s still college football, being played at a higher level than ever before. Saturdays are not going anywhere: They’re just getting more packed.


This article by Matt Hinton appeared in Saturday Down South, a premium digital publisher covering the sport of college football in the Southeastern region of the U.S. Read the original at saturdaydownsouth.com/sec-football/ultimate-sec- football-preview-2024.


ISSUE 3 | FALL 2024 | focus 21


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