In the year of our lord 2025, we are now 1031 days removed from the last SEC National Championship season. Georgia knocked off TCU in a lopsided 65-7 rout that served as the penultimate chapter of the old four-team playoff system.

To some, it also served as the final chapter of the SEC’s dominance over college football.

Since that day nearly three years ago, we’ve seen both Michigan* and Ohio State win titles. Michigan, in humble fashion, retired from championship competition when they promoted Sherrone Moore to head coach to replace Jim Harbaugh before the 2024 season.

Ohio State, however, stuck around. They currently lead the nation in defensive efficiency, No. 1 rankings, and petulant diatribes about how their first title since 2014 means we all have to bow down to wet snow, large women, bland food, and the entirety of the Big Ten experience.

Sadly, that view is rooted in Big Ten fans’ favorite word — hypotheticals. It’s not real. The Big Ten is a staunch second fiddle, through and through, when compared to the SEC, but only if you base your opinion on facts.

Facts like the SEC’s superior record against non-conference Power 4 teams (including those angry little Pete Buttigieg constituents from South Bend).

Of course, if math isn’t your strong suit because Lord knows there are better things to do in Iowa, then we’ll break it down a little further.

Among teams with one or fewer conference losses, the chasm between the meat of the SEC and the gristle of the Big Ten becomes clearer when we look at the breakdown of 10-4 vs 5-7 within the top, mid, and bottom tiers from each league:

Among teams with one or fewer conference losses:

Teams with 2-4 conference losses:

Teams with 5 or more:

At every single level, the SEC outperforms the Big Ten when the time comes to pull up their britches and play someone without a compass key in front of their name.

This is what people mean when they say the SEC is deeper. When they wipe the bourbon from their jaws and look you in the eye and you hear the gravel in their voice calmly declare that you wouldn’t last a day in the cathedral where they fell in love with football.

They mean, sure — Ohio State, Indiana — great teams.

But the folks right below them, Oregon (whose best win is over Northwestern), Iowa (who couldn’t manage a victory over 2-4-in-the-Big-XII Iowa State), USC (zero P4 non-conference wins), and Michigan (13ppg in losses to Oklahoma and the aforementioned Trojans) … just not up to it. Mush. Slop. AI’s approximation of what a strong college football team looks like.

A team with four Big Ten wins (hey Minnesota) went out and got doubled up by Cal. The only team in the B1G’s bottom tier to even earn a non-conference P4 win did it against Boston College (big win for Sparty), who by the way is 1-8. BC did give Notre Dame a scare though, so do with that what you will.

Meanwhile in the sunny south, basement-dwelling Auburn went into Waco and waxed 5-4 Baylor. South Carolina beat Virginia Tech by two scores. The same Virginia Tech that put up 42 in a win over the Gopher gashing Golden Bears themselves.

In fact, that middle tier of the SEC, the one with the 6-1 record in these types of games, owns wins over Michigan, Virginia Tech (sorry guys, not trying to be mean), Syracuse, Kansas, Clemson, and Arizona State. Two of those teams are still technically fighting for conference championships.

So spare me the hypocritical rants about the SEC’s affinity for hypotheticals. Spare me the excuses about Ohio State’s strategy against Texas was to play so poorly that the Longhorns had a shot to win the game with 1:28 left, that it was all part of Ryan Day’s master plan. Spare me the horn-tooting about Iowa being a quality win when they couldn’t muster the 17 points it would have taken to beat a Big 12 team who has four conference losses including one to Colorado.

You can have the top two spots, for now, but just know those spots were earned by running through a field of daisies schedule in a league that has become Sydney Sweeney levels of top heavy.

I’l leave you with one final thought, one last fact. There are only three teams in the country who haven’t allowed more than 24 points in a single game this year: Ohio State, Indiana, and Auburn.

In the Big Ten that gets you undefeated. In the SEC, it gets your coach fired.

— Hunter