College Football: SEC and Big 10 Aren’t THAT Much Better Than ACC and Big 12

There is a college football narrative out there that unless a team plays in the Big 10 or the SEC, their schedule is a ‘cupcake’ schedule, and that, essentially, there are no great teams outside of the SEC or Big 10. Stop. Yes, the best teams in college football are from these conferences, but they certainly are not the only ones with great teams. I’d go as far as to say that there are Big 12 and ACC schools that play tougher schedules than some Big 10 teams. 

Not Everyone is Georgia, Ohio State, or Alabama

Again, I understand and will never argue that the best teams in the country come from the SEC and Big 10, but not every team is Georgia, Ohio State, or Alabama. Let’s just take a look at the Big 10. Yes, the top teams are great. But what about the bottom of the league? Indiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Northwestern, Purdue, Rutgers, and UCLA don’t scare anyone. What about the SEC? Nobody is sweating when they see Arkansas, Mississippi State, South Carolina, or Vanderbilt on the schedule.

The bottom line is, if you take out the top half of the SEC and the top third of the Big 10, those conferences look just as good if not a bit worse than the ACC and Big 12.

“But you can’t ignore the top teams!”. Yes, this is true, to an extent, but even teams in the SEC and Big 10 aren’t playing all the top teams. Here are just a few examples:

TEAM 1: 2 ranked teams, 1 G5

TEAM 2 : 3 ranked teams, 2 G5 teams

TEAM 3:  5 ranked teams, 1 G5

TEAM 4: 5 ranked teams, 1 G5

TEAM 5: 1 ranked team, 1 G5

Which team has the easiest schedule? Who has the toughest? The order is obvious. Team 2 has the toughest schedule, while teams two and five easier schedules. What if I told you that those teams are the following:

Team 1: Rutgers

Team 2: Missouri

Team 3: BYU

Team 4: Georgia Tech

Team 5: Penn State

BREAKING: College Football Preseason AP Poll🚨https://t.co/5yDVnas0oS pic.twitter.com/LtqD38pOPe

— On3 (@On3sports) August 12, 2024

Preseason Rankings Matter More Than You May Think

There is a belief among many that preseason rankings don’t matter because everything will work itself out. This is simply not true. There are currently nine SEC teams ranked in the Top 20. Why does this matter? In all likelihood, seven or eight of these teams will start their season 3-0 and be ranked in the Top 15. Now, once SEC games get going, these ranked matchups will be advertised as marquee games in which the winner gets a huge ranked win, and the loser doesn’t see a huge drop since it was an acceptable loss.

As this continues, the SEC will continue to keep multiple teams in the Top 20, and ‘upsets’ will show the league’s depth. This creates narratives that affect how everyone views the game. The College Football Playoff committee also hears these narratives, and while they may deny being influenced by other polls, they are also human and watch and listen to the same commentary we all do.

Depth vs Talent Argument

The SEC is the best conference in the country. Period. Done. Obvious. But the other conferences and the gap between them and each other/the SEC depends on what is important and valued the most.

• If the most important thing is championships, it is the SEC on top and then the ACC and Big 10 on the same level.
• If looking at overall wins/losses in a conference, the Big 12 is towards the top. There aren’t very many true bottom-dwellers in the conference. Sure, they don’t have Georgia or Michigan, but they also don’t have a Vanderbilt or Indiana.
• When looking at NFL talent, things get very fuzzy. The Big 12 has a ton of quarterbacks in the league. The SEC dominates with skilled players, and the Big 10 has a lot of linemen and defenders.

When considering all these different factors, are the SEC and the Big 10 the best conferences? Yes, probably. Are they the only two good conferences? Absolutely not.

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