Danny Kanell ponders how SEC depth will be perceived after 9-game schedule
By Andrew Olson
Published:
It’s talkin’ season in the college football world. All four major conferences have now held their Media Days events, and those have provided plenty of material for fans and media members to discuss.
The strength of conferences is regularly brought up and debated, especially during Media Days. Nick Saban turned some heads when he said that the Big Ten’s run of 3-straight national championships doesn’t make it a better conference than the SEC. Saban is far from the only SEC figure touting the conference’s depth.
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Danny Kanell, meanwhile, wonders if the SEC will still be able to tout its “depth” after playing a 9-game conference schedule. He believes that the Big Ten, which has been playing a 9-game conference schedule since 2016, has more depth than it is given credit for.
“I think the Big Ten is deeper than they’re perceived by the SEC and the rest of the country,” Kanell said Thursday on CBS Sports. “And what is going to be interesting, I think the bottom of the Big Ten gets crushed because some of the records aren’t great.
“Well, that’s because of the 9-game conference slate. What happens to the bottom of the SEC, which is propped up because they’re bowl teams, because they have four cupcakes in the non-con? I think that’s going to be real interesting to see how that plays out this year.”
"The Big Ten is deeper than they're perceived by the SEC and the rest of the country." 👀
— CBS Sports College Football 🏈 (@CBSSportsCFB) July 30, 2026
–@dannykanell pic.twitter.com/feo3c5KHcf
The depth debate is sure to be revisited come postseason. We’ll see if Kanell’s point stands.
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaign of Fred Taylor.
