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The demise of the SEC, like the end of the Alabama dynasty, has been greatly exaggerated. The Tide’s 2015 national championship punctuated the restoration.
The Big Ten only thought it was back. Ohio State’s run to the 2014 title, which included a semifinals victory over the Tide, gave the conference a false sense of security. And wasn’t it ironic that it took a former SEC coach to accomplish the feat? After taking the Gators to the top of the heap, Urban Meyer gave the Buckeyes a glimpse of the view from up there.
But don’t get too comfortable, Big Ten Conference. You’ve still got a long way to go to unseat the nation’s best league.
Oh sure, Meyer has Ohio State on the right track. The Buckeyes are going to be competitive for years to come. He’s definitely built a winner in Columbus and Ohio State will remain in the title hunt each year that Meyer remains its head coach.
And yes, Jim Harbaugh has things moving in a positive direction at breakneck speed up in Ann Arbor. The manner in which his Michigan Wolverines dismantled SEC East champion Florida (41-7) in the Citrus Bowl was nothing short of eye opening. The Wolverines are indeed ready again to do battle with Ohio State for that conference’s top prize.
No, we can’t forget Michigan State, either. Sparty is among the Big Ten elite and the job that head coach Mark Dantonio is doing is remarkable. Michigan State is a threat to win the Big Ten title, no question. But as they proved in the 2015 semifinals, a 38-0 thrashing at the hands of Alabama, right now the Spartans are more of an annoyance rather than a serious contender for the national title.
But until the Big Ten can recruit collectively as a conference like Ohio State and Michigan do regularly, it won’t be a threat to the SEC.
Since 2000, four SEC teams have won a national championship (Florida, LSU, Auburn, Alabama) while from the Big Ten only Ohio State can make the same claim. Michigan’s most recent championship came in 1997, when it shared the crown with Nebraska. Penn State last won it all in 1986, several years before it joined the Big Ten.
Head-to-head the SEC is far and away the better conference. And despite a win here and there, the Big Ten isn’t making any headway toward closing that Grand Canyon-like gap.
The SEC leads the all-time series vs. the Big Ten by a margin of 87-58-2, according to mcubed.net. In bowl games, the SEC rules with a convincing 49-29 advantage.
And for those who feel the Big Ten is closing ground — think again. The SEC has doubled its pleasure against the Big Ten in this decade by a 20-10 margin. A dominating 20 victories in the most recent 30 games played between the two conferences tells the story.
The SEC rebounded from a 3-3 mark in 2014 to win four of the five games played between the SEC and Big Ten in 2015. Since 2000, the Big Ten has held an edge over the SEC in head-to-head matchups in only two years (2005 and 2006).
The last decade in which the Big Ten held an advantage over the SEC was the 1970s when it ended that 10-year period with a 7-5 edge.
Is the Big Ten closing the gap with the emergence of its Big Three (Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State)? Perhaps, but it has a long way to go to even consider unseating the SEC as college football’s best conference.
Glenn Sattell is an award-winning freelance writer for Saturday Down South.
