Do these two teams deserve to be spoken of in the same sentence? | Photo by Jamie Schwaberow/Getty Images
Top to bottom, there is no doubt who the better conference is.
The duo announcements of Oklahoma and Texas future alignment with the SEC and Southern Cal and UCLA jumping to the Big Ten have sent shock waves through the college football world. Those defections have strengthened two conferences and severely damaged two – though some would say three – other Power 5 conferences.
These moves were followed by a rash of reports of the new pecking order in college football. According to the national sports press, we now have TWO mega/super/power conferences on the top of the hill and then everyone else. But is that number one too many? Yes, the Big Ten is looking slightly more attractive, but the SEC – even without Texas and Oklahoma – stand alone on the gold medal podium.
NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
As far as National Champions are concerned, the SEC has far and away taken home more trophies over the last 10, 20 and 30 years.
Team
NC 1990-1999
NC since 2000
Alabama
1992
2009, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2017, 2020
LSU
2003*, 2007, 2019
Florida
1996
2006, 2008
Georgia
2021
Auburn
2010
Tennessee
1998
Arkansas
Kentucky
Mississippi State
Missouri
Ole Miss
South Carolina
Texas A&M
Vanderbilt
Texas
2005 #
Oklahoma
2000 #
Ohio State
2002, 2014
Michigan
1997*
Michigan State
Iowa
Purdue
Minnesota
Wisconsin
Penn State
Illinois
Maryland
Rutgers
Northwestern
Indiana
Nebraska
1994†, 1995†, 1997*†
UCLA
Southern Cal
2003*@, 2004&@
* Split NC
# As a member of the Big 12
† As a member of the Big 8 Conference
@ As a member of the PAC-12
& vacated
As you can see from the chart above, there is a big disparity in National Championships between the two conferences.
The SEC has had six different current member schools win NC’s in the last 30 years. SEC teams have won 13 since 2000. Texas and Oklahoma add two more to those amounts.
The Big Ten has had three different current member schools win NC’s in the last 30 years and one of them, Nebraska, was a part of a different conference at the time. Furthermore, the Cornhuskers have been dreadful since joining the B1G. But more on that in a moment. Big Ten teams have won 2 championships since 2000 and the were both by Ohio State. Add two more if you want to include Southern Cal’s split 2003 NC and the tainted, vacated 2004 trophy.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF
Since the inception of the CFP for the 2014-15 season, three SEC and three B1G teams have made appearances. However, two of the B1G teams have made one appearance and have one loss each. The SEC three have each taken home the top prize.
APP
FINAL
NC
School
Conf
Record
4
2
1
Ohio State
Big Ten
3-3
1
–
–
Michigan State
Big Ten
0-1
1
–
–
Michigan
Big Ten
0-1
7
6
3
Alabama
SEC
9-4
2
2
1
Georgia
SEC
3-1
1
1
1
LSU
SEC
2-0
The SEC is 14-5 in the CFP while the B1G is 3-5.
Oklahoma has had four appearances with no wins. Texas, Southern Cal, and UCLA have yet to make it to a playoff.
SEASON WINS OVER LAST 10 YEARS
SEC
Team
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
Total
Avg
Alabama
13
11
12
14
14
13
14
11
13
13
128
12.8
Oklahoma
10
11
8
11
11
12
12
12
9
11
107
10.7
Georgia
12
8
10
10
8
13
11
12
8
14
106
10.6
LSU
10
10
8
9
8
9
10
15
5
6
90
9.0
Texas A&M
11
9
8
8
8
7
9
8
9
7
84
8.4
Florida
11
4
7
10
9
4
10
11
8
6
80
8.0
Auburn
3
12
8
7
8
10
8
9
6
6
77
7.7
Mississippi State
8
7
10
9
6
9
8
6
4
7
74
7.4
Texas
9
8
6
5
5
7
10
8
7
5
70
7.0
Missouri
5
12
11
5
4
7
8
6
5
6
69
6.9
Ole Miss
7
8
9
10
5
6
5
4
5
10
69
6.9
South Carolina
11
11
7
3
6
9
7
4
2
7
67
6.7
Tennessee
5
5
7
9
9
4
5
8
3
7
62
6.2
Kentucky
2
2
5
5
7
7
10
8
5
10
61
6.1
Arkansas
4
3
7
8
7
4
2
2
3
9
49
4.9
Vanderbilt
9
9
3
4
6
5
6
3
0
2
47
4.7
Totals
2142
2143
2140
2142
2137
2143
2153
2146
2112
2147
1240
124.0
B1G
Team
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
Total
Avg
Ohio State
12
12
14
12
11
12
13
13
7
11
117
11.7
Wisconsin
8
9
11
10
11
13
8
10
4
9
93
9.3
Michigan State
7
13
11
12
3
10
7
7
2
11
83
8.3
Penn State
8
7
7
7
11
11
9
11
4
7
82
8.2
Michigan
8
7
5
10
10
9
10
9
2
12
82
8.2
Iowa
4
8
7
12
8
8
9
10
6
10
82
8.2
Southern Cal
7
10
9
8
10
11
5
8
5
4
77
7.7
Minnesota
6
8
8
6
9
5
7
11
3
9
72
7.2
Northwestern
10
5
5
10
7
10
9
3
7
3
69
6.9
UCLA
9
10
10
8
4
6
3
4
3
8
65
6.5
Nebraska
10
9
9
6
9
4
4
5
3
3
62
6.2
Indiana
4
5
4
6
6
5
5
8
6
2
51
5.1
Maryland
4
7
7
3
6
4
5
3
2
7
48
4.8
Rutgers
9
6
8
4
2
4
1
2
3
5
44
4.4
Purdue
6
1
3
2
3
7
6
4
2
9
43
4.3
Illinois
2
4
6
5
3
2
4
6
2
5
39
3.9
Totals
2126
2134
2138
2136
2129
2138
2123
2133
2081
2136
1109
110.9
The numbers speak for themselves. Top to bottom, the SEC puts out a better product than the Big Ten. If six wins and bowl eligibility is the goal, only two SEC teams are below that threshold as an average over the last ten years, and one of those two has seemingly remedied their ills. Five B1G programs have averaged under six wins a year and none of them appear to be on track to being a national power anytime soon.
NEWBIES
Take a look at what each conference is getting in their new additions.
SOUTHERN CAL AND UCLA TO THE B1G
It is quite comical how so many observers see that the Big Ten have picked up two teams from the US’s number two TV market and think all of a sudden the people of that city are going to tune into Big Ten games. First off, the two teams they got are from the same city. Wouldn’t it have been smarter to go after two different markets??
Secondly, Southern Cal football takes a back seat to many other sports in La-La Land and UCLA football is on a stinky Metro Bus, five vehicles back.
Speaking as a person who lived in Tinseltown for ten years, University of Southern Cal graduates/fans are pretty wishy-washy and mostly fair-weather about their football. As for UCLA football, they have close to zero presence in the city. That school has been and always will be a basketball school. As a matter of fact, L.A. is not even a football town. The city went without an NFL team from 1995 to 2015 and the league did not suffer one iota.
The biggest draws are in order the Lakers, Dodgers, and Clippers. Even the two NFL teams are secondary in L.A.
OKLAHOMA AND TEXAS TO THE SEC
While Oklahoma does not have the population of L.A., they love them some Sooners football. They only really have the NBA’s Thunder to compete with for local fandom.
The Longhorns have a plethora of sports teams to compete with, most notably the Dallas Cowboys. However, they have a large rabid – bordering on insane – fan base, as well as the second largest endowment of roughly $31.90 billion after Harvard and ahead of Yale, Stanford, and Princeton.
IT JUST MEANS MORE
Some people make fun of the SEC slogan, but it is so damn true. College football is a part of who we are and so geographically centralized. Other sports – even the defending World Series Champs Braves – are secondary in the Southeast. Up in the Rust Belt, they mostly favor the NFL.
According to a 2018 Gallup poll, college football is the favorite major sport in states of 12 of the 16 to-be SEC schools. Only six home states of Big Ten schools can make that claim.
Just look at all that red side-by-side-by-side on that map. Conversely, the guys up north look like a bag of Skittles.
Alabama
Alabama
CFB
Arkansas
Arkansas
CFB
Auburn
Alabama
CFB
Florida
Florida
CFB
Georgia
Georgia
CFB
LSU
Louisiana
CFB
Mississippi State
Mississippi
CFB
Oklahoma
Oklahoma
CFB
Ole Miss
Mississippi
CFB
South Carolina
South Carolina
CFB
Tennessee
Tennessee
CFB
Vanderbilt
Tennessee
CFB
Missouri
Missouri
MLB
Texas A&M
Texas
NFL
Texas
Texas
NFL
Kentucky
Kentucky
CBB
Iowa
Iowa
CFB
Michigan
Michigan
CFB
Michigan State
Michigan
CFB
Nebraska
Nebraska
CFB
Ohio State
Ohio
CFB
Penn State
Pennsylvania
CFB
Rutgers
New Jersey
MLB
Southern Cal
California
NBA
UCLA
California
NBA
Illinois
Illinois
NFL
Indiana
Indiana
NFL
Maryland
Maryland
NFL
Minnesota
Minnesota
NFL
Northwestern
Illinois
NFL
Purdue
Indiana
NFL
Wisconsin
Wisconsin
NFL
EYEBALLS
Medium.com did research on every Power 5 team, every AAC team, every Mountain West team, plus Notre Dame, BYU, and Army for the average number of viewers per week from 2015–19. Below are just the B1G and SEC including the future new additions to each conference.
1
Ohio State (5.19M)
B1G
5,190,000
3
Michigan (4.18M)
B1G
4,180,000
10
Penn State (2.55M)
B1G
2,550,000
12
Wisconsin (2.27M)
B1G
2,270,000
15
Michigan State (2.20M)
B1G
2,200,000
21
Iowa (1.57M)
B1G
1,570,000
22
Nebraska (1.51M)
B1G
1,510,000
34
Indiana (1.17M)
B1G
1,170,000
40
Northwestern (867K)
B1G
867,000
43
Minnesota (803K)
B1G
803,000
54
Maryland (681K)
B1G
681,000
55
Purdue (620K)
B1G
620,000
70
Illinois (401K)
B1G
401,000
75
Rutgers (266K)
B1G
266,000
TOTAL
24,278,000
2
Alabama (5.09M)
SEC
5,090,000
5
LSU (3.22M)
SEC
3,220,000
6
Auburn (3.12M)
SEC
3,120,000
7
Georgia (2.91M)
SEC
2,910,000
11
Florida (2.46M)
SEC
2,460,000
17
Texas A&M (1.851M)
SEC
1,851,000
18
Tennessee (1.849M)
SEC
1,849,000
20
Mississippi (1.61M)
SEC
1,610,000
27
Arkansas (1.33M)
SEC
1,330,000
29
Mississippi State (1.31M)
SEC
1,310,000
36
South Carolina (1.07M)
SEC
1,070,000
57
Missouri (611K)
SEC
611,000
63
Kentucky (484K)
SEC
484,000
65
Vanderbilt (438K)
SEC
438,000
TOTAL
27,353,000
[Did you notice that even sorry ass Vanderbilt outdraws the FBS teams that represent the nation’s No. 1 TV market (NYC) in Rutgers and No. 3 (Chicago) in Northwestern?]
The B1G proponents will point to the above graph and proclaim that they have the No. 1 and No. 3 highest viewed teams. But therein lies the problems. They are top heavy. Does Gonzaga’s membership in the West Coast Conference make that one of the best basketball conferences?
The SEC numbers are still higher without the two new teams added to each league: Big Ten = 24,278,000; SEC = 27,353,000. So, are we splitting hairs here? Not if you think 3 Million more average viewers per week isn’t a big deal.
WRAP IT UP
Even with out Alabama, the SEC looks better top-to-bottom. To these eyes, the SEC will have nine to eleven teams that will make the league great and one that drags it down. The Big Ten will have seven teams of strength and a bunch of teams that detract or are filled with apathy.
The below is based on IMHO, so feel free to disagree in the Comments section.
TEAM
STATUS
Alabama
Elite of the elite
Georgia
Reigning Champ
LSU
2019 Champs/Rebuilding
Oklahoma
Rebuilding
Texas A&M
Good not great
Florida
Rebuilding
Texas
On the Rise
Tennessee
On the Rise
Arkansas
On the Rise
Auburn
In a slump
Ole Miss
Can never get over the hump
Kentucky
Basketball school
Mississippi State
Scrappy little brother
South Carolina
Scrappy little brother
Missouri
Meh
Vanderbilt
Anchor
TEAM
STATUS
Ohio State
Top 5
Michigan
Days of yore
Penn State
Good not great
Southern Cal
Days of yore
Wisconsin
Can never get over the hump
Iowa
Can never get over the hump
Michigan State
Scrappy little brother
Nebraska
Five straight losing seasons
Indiana
Basketball school
UCLA
Basketball school
Minnesota
Hockey school
Purdue
Meh
Maryland
Anchor
Illinois
Anchor
Northwestern
Anchor
Rutgers
Anchor
So, let’s stop all this talk about TWO supreme conferences as if they are on equal footing.
source https://thedailyncaa.com/sec-b1g-lets-stop-this-nonsense-about-two-power-conferences/