New-Look SEC vs New-Look Big Ten: How do they compare?

The SEC and Big Ten seem to have been the two best college football conferences over the last decade or so, and they both just got even better. The SEC started the madness when they decided to accept Texas and Oklahoma into their conference back in 2021. The Big Ten followed up with announcing the additions of USC and UCLA, and now Washington and Oregon. That leaves the SEC at 16 teams and the Big Ten at 18. Now that these changes have been made, let’s take a look at how the two compare now.

Texas vs Alabama is a matchup we will see more now that the Longhorns are SEC bound.

In my opinion, there still really isn’t a comparison between the two. I see the SEC as the clear number one conference and the Big Ten is second. The Big Ten is far ahead of all the others, but still has a ways to go before they can compete with the SEC. Maybe if we’re looking at off-the-field stuff, the Big Ten has some room to talk. The media rights deal that the Big Ten just signed with CBS, FOX, and NBC has helped them a lot, but media deals doesn’t make you the superior conference in the country. Neither does adding four schools that have all had little to no success vs the SEC since the turn of the century. The last time USC played an SEC team back in 2016, they lost 52-6 to Alabama. Washington made the CFP in 2016 and lost to Alabama 24-7. Oregon just recently played Georgia in the first game of the season last year and lost 49-3. UCLA did beat LSU in 2021, but the Bruins are not being looked at as a national power, the other three are. The four west coast schools really don’t tilt the needle in the Big Ten’s favor.

Oregon got smacked by Georgia 49-3 in last season’s opening game.

Another thing that sets the SEC apart is how deep the conference is. You look at the Big Ten and you have Ohio State, Michigan, and Penn State, after that there is a drop-off. The SEC has Georgia, Alabama, and LSU who have all WON national championships since 2019. Only one current Big Ten team has won a national championship since 2000, and that is Ohio State in 2002 and 2014. USC has two titles, one in 2003 and one in 2004, but even one of those is split with LSU. If we add Texas and Oklahoma to the SEC, that gives the conference 16 out of the last 23 college football champions. If that isn’t domination then I don’t know what is. We can also look at the SEC’s domination over the Big Ten in basketball and baseball in terms of championships, but that would take too long.

Nick Saban began coaching at Alabama in 2007 and has won six titles with them since then.

In conclusion, I believe it is definitely SEC first and Big Ten second. The SEC better teams, coaches, and recruits overall and it has shown on the field and in the NFL draft. It’ll be very interesting to see how the conference moves change these programs trajectories. Can any of them get to the point where they are the Alabama’s, Georgia’s, Ohio State’s and Michigan’s of their conference. How will it effect recruiting? Only time will tell. College football as we know it is over. Starting in 2024, the landscape of the game is going to look completely different.