The SEC-Big Ten debate has raged for some time, and it really intensified last year after Ohio State eliminated Alabama from the initial College Football Playoff before beating Oregon for the national championship.

A year later, the Crimson Tide is on the verge of clinching its second straight playoff spot, which it would earn by beating Florida in Saturday’s SEC Championship Game.

Ohio State is on the outside looking in, waiting to see what happens in Saturday night’s Big Ten Championship Game between Iowa and Michigan State.

With Oklahoma comfortably in the No. 3 spot in the latest CFP rankings, victories by the Hawkeyes, Clemson and Alabama would likely create the following playoff matchups: Sooners vs. the Crimson Tide and Tigers against Iowa.

So there might not be an SEC-Big Ten matchup until the national championship game in Glendale, Ariz., on Jan. 11.

Until then, at least for this season, let’s try to resolve this Power 5 conference debate by taking a look at the leagues’ best teams on a school-by-school basis. And for the purpose of this comparison, let’s define the conference’s “best” teams as those that finished above .500 within their respective leagues. Sagarin Ratings have been used as the strength-of-schedule source.

SEC

Alabama (11-1)
Conference record: 7-1
Record vs. AP Top 25 teams: 5-1
Strength of schedule: 5
2015 defeat: Lost 43-37 at home to Ole Miss on Sept. 19.

Florida (10-2)
Conference record: 7-1
Record vs. AP Top 25 teams: 1-2
Strength of schedule: 46
2015 defeats: Lost 35-28 at LSU on Oct. 17. Lost 27-2 at home to Florida State on Nov. 28.

Ole Miss (9-3)
Conference record: 6-2
Record vs. AP Top 25 teams: 4-1
Strength of schedule: 22
Notable victory: Beat Alabama 43-37 in Tuscaloosa on Sept. 19.
2015 defeats: Lost 38-10 at Florida on Oct. 3. Lost 37-24 at Memphis on Oct. 17. Lost 53-52 in overtime at home to Arkansas on Nov. 7.

Georgia (9-3)
Conference record: 5-3
Record vs. AP Top 25 teams: 0-2
Strength of schedule: 59
2015 defeats: Lost 38-10 at Alabama on Oct. 3. Lost 38-31 at Tennessee on Oct. 10. Lost 27-3 at Florida on Oct. 31.

LSU (8-3)
Conference record: 5-3
Record vs. AP Top 25 teams: 3-2
Strength of schedule: 8
2015 defeats: Lost 30-16 at Alabama on Nov. 7. Lost 31-14 at home to Arkansas on Nov. 14. Lost 38-17 at Ole Miss on Nov. 21.

Tennessee (8-4)
Conference record: 5-3
Record vs. AP Top 25 teams: 1-2
Strength of schedule: 35
2015 defeats: Lost 31-24 in overtime at home to Oklahoma on Sept. 12. Lost 28-27 at Florida on Sept. 26. Lost 24-20 at home to Arkansas on Oct. 3. Lost 19-14 at Alabama on Oct. 24.

Arkansas (7-5)
Conference record: 5-3
Record vs. AP Top 25 teams: 3-2
Strength of schedule: 6
2015 defeats: Lost 16-12 at home to Toledo on Sept. 12. Lost 35-24 at home to Texas Tech on Sept. 19. Lost 28-21 at home to Texas A&M on Sept. 26. Lost 27-14 at Alabama on Oct. 10. Lost 51-50 at home to Mississippi State on Nov. 21.

Big Ten

Iowa (12-0)
Conference record: 8-0
Record vs. AP Top 25 teams: 2-0
Strength of schedule: 62
2015 defeats: None.

Michigan State (11-1)
Conference record: 7-1
Record vs. AP Top 25 teams: 3-0
Strength of schedule: 53
2015 defeats: Lost 39-38 at Nebraska on Nov. 7.

Ohio State (11-1)
Conference record: 7-1
Record vs. AP Top 25 teams: 1-1
Strength of schedule: 61
2015 defeats: Lost at home 17-14 to Michigan State on Nov. 21.

Northwestern (10-2)
Conference record: 6-2
Record vs. AP Top 25 teams: 2-2
Strength of schedule: 44
2015 defeats: Lost at 38-0 at Michigan on Oct. 10. Lost 40-10 at home to Iowa on Oct. 17.

Michigan (9-3)
Conference record: 6-2
Record vs. AP Top 25 teams: 2-2
Strength of schedule: 42
2015 defeats: Lost at 24-17 at Utah on Sept. 4. Lost 27-23 at home to Michigan State on Oct. 17. Lost 42-13 at home to Ohio State on Nov. 28.

Wisconsin (9-3)
Conference record: 6-2
Record vs. AP Top 25 teams: 0-2
Strength of schedule: 70
2015 defeats: Lost 35-17 to Alabama in neutral-site game on Sept. 5. Lost 10-6 at home to Iowa on Oct. 3. Lost 13-7 at home to Northwestern on Nov. 21.

Here’s how the two conferences compare when these numbers are measured collectively:

SEC
Conference record: 40-16 (.714 winning percentage)
Record vs. AP Top 25 teams: 16-12 (.571)
Average strength of schedule: 26

Big Ten
Conference record: 40-8 (.833)
Record vs. AP Top 25 teams: 10-7 (.588)
Average strength of schedule: 55

Final analysis: The SEC is 35-24 against the Big Ten since the 2000s and won the only head-to-head matchup this season when Alabama beat Wisconsin.

The top teams in both conferences combined to win 40 games in league play, but with more teams finishing with above .500 within the conference, the SEC had more collective losses.

The conferences’ winning percentages against AP Top 25 teams this season are nearly identical, but the metric that jumps out here is the leagues’ respective strength of schedules among their top teams. Three SEC teams’ strengths of schedule are in the Top 10 nationally — Alabama’s, Arkansas’ and LSU’s — while none of the Big Ten’s top teams ranks better than 42nd in that department.

Things will obviously change next year, since the Big Ten has committed to play nine league games and one mandated non-conference game against a fellow power league and will no longer have games against FCS opponents on its slates.

And the great SEC-Big Ten debate will continue even if the SEC maintains its eight-game league schedule. But until that playing field is evened up — or at least until the 2016 season kicks off — the SEC has shown it is still the premier conference in college football, with Alabama still having a chance to strengthen that reputation between now and the second Monday in January.