For much of the 21st century, the SEC has been the best conference in college football. That has changed in the 2020s, though.
The Big Ten has taken over. The Midwestern conference has won three straight College Football Playoff national championships. Michigan won in 2023, Ohio State won in 2024 and Indiana won in 2025.
Even Georgia Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart can admit that the Big Ten has become the superior conference.
"I don’t know, I can’t figure out what it is. I just think they have a more competitive conference. At the top of their conference, there’s more good teams. It used to be Ohio State was good. Well, Michigan was really good with (Jim) Harbaugh, had a great team. Indiana’s good. Like, now they’ve got Oregon. They’ve got a draw. They have the ability to attract good players," Smart said.
"Now NIL has a factor too, for sure, but so does Miami,” Smart said. “So does Florida. I mean, people have money. More people have money. So I think the talent is spread out thin, whereas before in the SEC, it was a magnet to talent. The disparity was so great that it was like you couldn’t mess it up. You’d win regardless. And now it’s like, OK. It’s more even. And it’s just been three in a row, they did it.”
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Paul Finebaum has another theory, though.
The Voice of the SEC is blaming Georgia Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart for the Big Ten's dominance.
Finebaum assigns 'blame' to Smart
Finebaum believes that it's Smart's fault.
“It’s at the top of the SEC where the problem has occurred, and it’s all one person’s fault — it’s Kirby Smart’s fault,” Finebaum said on Wednesday’s Crain & Cone. “Because he won two in a row, he made it look so easy — he should’ve won three in a row, but Nick Saban stunned him in the SEC championship game. And then all these other things have happened. I don’t think it’s a reason to go hide under a rock, nor do I think it’s a reason for SEC fans to find anything that they can and beat their chest about.”
Finebaum knows times have changed.
“It’s also worth remembering that 14 years ago, I put out a book that was entitled ‘My Conference Can Beat Your Conference: Why the SEC Still Rules College Football,’ and you can get that book right now for about 35 cents online, because it’s not selling very well,” Finebaum joked. “‘Let’s just be real about it’ is my message to all … the people in the SEC who just won’t let this go.”
