For most objective fans, it’s become clear that the Big Ten has surpassed the SEC as the dominant conference in college football. Just don’t tell SEC commissioner Greg Sankey or the conference’s coaches about the importance of on-field results. After years of them referencing those exact results.
Sankey, speaking at the SEC’s spring meetings on Wednesday, once again struck, and once again struck a defiant, and inaccurate, tone. College Football Playoff executive director Rich Clark met with the conference and its coaches this week, explaining the “metrics” that go into the committee’s decision making and selection process. According to Sankey, it confirmed that the SEC is the “strongest league.”
“We saw metrics out of the College Football Playoff presentation where there’s no doubt we’re the strongest league,” Sankey said. “But I think from a big picture, the breadth, the depth of this league — this league stands alone.”
Southeastern Conference Commissioner Greg Sankey listens to a journalist’s question during the Southeastern Conference Football Kickoff Media Day on July 17, 2023, at the Grand Hyatt Nashville in Nashville, Tenn. (Matthew Maxey/Icon Sportswire)
When discussing recent results, he repeated the same mantra. “If you look at the entirety of our league, we are by far the most competitive, the strongest football league by far,” he told reporters. “But you’re going to lose games when it’s close and competitive like that.”
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The Big Ten has won three consecutive National Championships, with three different schools. The Michigan Wolverines won in 2024, followed by the Ohio State Buckeyes in 2025, and the Indiana Hoosiers in 2026 at the conclusion of a stunning undefeated season.
As for why that’s happened, Sankey took an interesting path. “So why have they surpassed us? It’s an oddball, it’s bounced a couple times the wrong way.”
What’s interesting about that tactic, saying the games have been close even if the SEC team ultimately lost, is that other teams and conferences have never been able to use this justification. Did the ACC get credit when Clemson lost to Alabama 45-40 in 2016? Oklahoma had 507 yards of offense against a Nick Saban Alabama defense in the 2018 Orange Bowl. Georgia beat Ohio State by one point in the 2022 Peach Bowl after trailing for much of the game. Did the Big Ten or Big 12 get credit for the ball bouncing “a couple times the wrong way” in those games? Or was it further proof of the SEC’s dominance that they ultimately won?
Indiana Hoosiers head coach Curt Cignetti looks on during the College Football Playoff National Championship Game against the Miami Hurricanes at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla., on Jan. 19, 2026. (David Rosenblum/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
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The SEC has failed to reach the championship game for three straight years. The Alabama Crimson Tide, SEC runners-up, were blown out in the Rose Bowl game, losing 38-3 to Indiana. It wasn’t even that close; the Tide had just 193 total yards of offense and 11 first downs. The previously dominant Alabama running game generated just 1.4 yards per carry.
Texas A&M lost at home to Miami, scoring just three points at Kyle Field. The SEC overall went 1-8 in bowl games and 0-3 in the 2025-2026 Playoff against other Power Four teams. And Sankey is claiming that the league’s “depth” and “breadth” are heads and shoulders above the rest. All while the coaches were furious with the committee for not putting more SEC teams in.
“He was in a no-win situation with all the SEC coaches, a couple in there that thought they should have been in (the CFP),” new LSU coach Lane Kiffin said. “That probably wasn’t going to be a great meeting for him.”
Suddenly, these results don’t matter, after years of being used to claim that the SEC was the best conference. Georgia athletic director Josh Brooks was even worse.
Florida Gators quarterback DJ Lagway gestures before the snap against the Florida State Seminoles during the second half at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium on Nov. 29, 2025. (Matt Pendleton/Imagn Images)
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“Look, I’m biased,” Brooks said. “I’ve spent a lot of time in the SEC. I was part of the mock (CFP selection committee) exercise a number of years ago and one of the things that took me back is when people would say things like, ‘That was a bad loss,’ or ‘That wasn’t a great win.’
“To me, that’s hard to say when you go to some of these venues, especially at night. When you judge Texas on the loss at Florida last year and say that’s going to be a massive hit to their résumé. Well, Florida’s a really tough team and that’s a really tough place to play.”
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Florida lost at home, in the unimaginably difficult Swamp, to…USF. They went 4-8. They fired their head coach in the middle of the season. Does anyone involved here have any idea what they’re talking about? Do they watch the games? Do they actually think Florida was a good team despite going 4-8 and losing to USF? It’s inexplicable.
This is why other conferences have problems with the SEC. They relentlessly promote mediocre teams because of historic brand names, even if the results don’t match the reputations. Iowa was a very good team, by all objective “metrics,” as Sankey says, but because they’re Iowa, they’re not treated with the same respect Tennessee or other SEC teams get. As just one example. Crowd support does not equal quality on-field product.
The SEC is going to promote itself. That’s not surprising. But the Big Ten and other conferences need to work on promoting themselves too. Because Kiffin, Sankey, and the rest of these personalities are going to keep influencing the committee to put undeserving teams like Alabama in the playoff because Nick Saban had a dynasty in the 2010s.
