Lane Kiffin knows how to end the Big Ten vs. SEC football debate for good.
The SEC has long claimed – and for good reason – to be the top conference in college football. The SEC dominated the sport for much of the 2000s and 2010s, thanks to coaches like Urban Meyer, Kirby Smart and, of course, Nick Saban.
But the Name, Image and Likeness era has caused a significant shift. The Big Ten conference has won the past three College Football Playoff national championships. Michigan won it all in 2023, Ohio State won it all in 2024 and Indiana won it all in 2025.
The Big Ten has some favorites to win it all this year, too. Ohio State is No. 1 in the preseason Top 25 polls and Oregon is a frontrunner, as well.
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Lane Kiffin, speaking to Matt Hladik of Men’s Journal, offered up a solution to settle the Big Ten vs. SEC debate for good.
He believes that we need an ACC-Big Ten basketball style challenge. He wants to pit the best of the Big Ten vs. the best of the SEC in a regular season series challenge on an annual basis.
Kiffin’s Big Ten vs. SEC solution
Kiffin thinks that there should be a regular season challenge between the Big Ten and the SEC every year.
“I think, when you look at the NFL Draft, there’s so many great players from the two leagues,” Kiffin said. “The SEC for a long while was kind of king, and then the top of the Big Ten, especially after adding Oregon, has become really strong.
“I think both leagues have great places to play, great teams, highly competitive. I actually wish they’d take one week early in the year and we’d all play each other. Everybody wants to compare who is better, and that’s really hard to do when you play different opponents. It’s not like the NFL where it’s easier to compare teams because you have so many common opponents.”
It would be fun to watch, that’s for sure.
