The Southeastern Conference has an Alabama problem.

And it doesn’t look like it’s going away.

That’s fine, if you’re a Tide fan.

If you’re the SEC, it’s starting to be embarrassing.

It was certainly no surprise that Alabama was ranked No. 1 nationally when the first of the two major polls was released last week.

It’s the go-to choice, the knee-jerk reaction.

Never mind that preseason polls are often comically wrong. They do reflect the national perception, and, this being August, that’s what we’re talking about right now.

The SEC’s take on it would be that, well, of course the conference has the No. 1 team. It’s the best conference — and by the time the poll ran its course, there were six of its teams accounted for, the most of any conference.

True enough.

But the next SEC team in the poll, LSU, didn’t check in until No. 12. You can see Bama’s tail lights from there, but just barely, and only on a clear day. The crimson dust trail starts to thin out a couple of spots up.

Every other Power Five conference, meanwhile, had at least two teams in the top 11. The Big Ten had four.

All presumably have favorites to win their conferences this year but are expecting spirited races before engraving any trophies.

The SEC’s group of five — Auburn (13), Georgia (15), Florida (16) and Tennessee (24) join LSU in the chase — are seemingly just trying to keep from getting lapped.

Mainly, if you’re the SEC, it’s just more fodder that the league is nothing more than Nick Saban with 13 dwarfs clinging to his coat tails.

It was a big topic at last month’s SEC Media Days in Hoover, Alabama. Almost every coach was asked about the pressing problem of closing the gap.

The Tide have won three straight and four of the last five SEC titles — and if not for Auburn’s crazy “Kick Six” victory in 2013, Bama would be going for the six pack this season.

The Tide didn’t win the national championship last season. But rather than being a hopeful sign for rest of the league, it appears it only annoyed the 500-pound elephant in the room.

Saban said, perhaps establishing this season’s motto, that he didn’t want “to waste a failure,” suggesting that there had been a full investigation into how the Tide managed to lose to Clemson in the national championship game (on the final play of the game).

Bama enters the season having won 17 consecutive conference games, by an average of more than 20 points per serving.

The SEC East serves up a sacrificial lamb for the conference championship game — what used to be one of the most anticipated games of the year — and last season Florida managed to keep it a 54-16 game.

Any ideas?

“It’s up to the rest of us to get to them,” Florida coach Jim McElwain said.

The guy who had the best working blue print has been banished from the kingdom.

While at Ole Miss, then-head coach Hugh Freeze shocked Bama two straight years (2014-15) and figured out some way to get a 21-point lead on Saban last season before blowing it.

It’s fuel for those persistent Bama conspiracy theories, but it appears that Freeze’s ouster had more to do with his uncovered phone calls to escort services than any lack of deference to the Tide and Saban.

Unfortunately, when he made his appearance at media days, the hot topic for him was the pending NCAA sanctions against his program — probably another coincidence; not Bama-related — and he left without sharing any tips.

Maybe the same Houston Nutt lawsuit that turned up the illicit phone calls will turn up some clues.

The rest of the SEC coaches seemed to be fresh out of ideas, at least at media days.

“It was 0-0 in the fourth quarter,” LSU’s Ed Orgeron growled of his Tigers’ well-intended, semi-scare of the Tide before losing 10-0 last year. “Their quarterback made two plays. We didn’t. I don’t know if it’s that big of a gap.”

Still, it was the Tigers’ sixth consecutive loss to Saban since forever irking him in the 2011 Game of the Century, a 9-6 LSU victory.

Most of the other coaches seemed to think the key was to recruit on the Tide’s level — more easily aspired to, probably, than done. 

“I think every team in this conference is trying to play catch-up in regards to that,” said Kirby Smart, who coached at Saban’s side before getting the top job at Georgia.

But Smart also warned that it’s not that simple.

“Recruiting and development,” he said. “A lot of people say it’s one or the other. When you do both, that’s when you’ve got something special.”

Maybe the big question is, If not this season, then when?

Saban said this year may well be his youngest team at Alabama.

“It’s going to be a real challenge for us to maintain the standard,” he said.

He didn’t seem to be fooling anybody.

Scooter Hobbs covers LSU athletics. Email him at shobbs@americanpress.com