College football fans love to argue which conference is the best, with the SEC and Big Ten often claiming the top two spots. How you order those two conferences is likely a matter of personal preference, though it's hard to argue that a long period of SEC national dominance was recently ended by three straight champions from the Big Ten. That said, former Alabama Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban said despite those titles, the SEC remains the superior conference.
Speaking on "The Pat McAfee Show" on Friday from the Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium, Saban pointed out that the Big Ten may have strong teams at the top, but there's a big fall-off after that elite tier. The SEC, in comparison, has depth, Saban argued. "Well, we already got nine teams at the Top 25," he said.
"Not like the Big Ten, who has three good teams at the top and then nothing." It's not clear who exactly Saban was referring to here, as the Big Ten has seven teams ranked in this week's Top 25. Saban likely means top-ranked Ohio State and Indiana and Oregon, ranked Nos. 5 and 6, respectively. Each of them is believed by many analysts and insiders to be legitimate contenders for the national title, though schools like USC, ranked No. 14, are also turning some heads.
The SEC also boasts some national title contenders in No. 2 Georgia, No. 4 Texas, No. 8 LSU and No. 9 Ole Miss, as well as five other ranked teams. Granted, those SEC teams are, in general, ranked higher than their Big Ten counterparts, but Saban's theory will get a real world test this weekend. Saban, McAfee and the rest of the college football world are in Austin as the Longhorns host the Buckeyes in a huge showdown of top five teams.
One game is hardly enough to determine if one conference is better than another, but it surely will provide more fuel for the argument on both sides. If Texas pulls off the win — they're very slight favorites over the Buckeyes — then Saban and his fellow SEC supporters may not let the Big Ten lovers hear the end of it. Of course, if a Big Ten school brings home the conference's fourth straight national title this season, we might be having this argument all over again next year.
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