One Big Thing: The Big Ten Is on the Verge of Stealing the SEC's CFB Crown

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, the Big Ten has a chance to topple the king of college football and wear the crown on merit. It already should be considered the best league in the sport. 

On January 19, the day of the College Football Playoff national championship game, the Big Ten can leave no doubt about that. That is the truth, and we seek the truth in all things college football, do we not? 

Slice it. Dice it. Purée the truth if you’ve got a blender that can manage turning pure nuts into dust to powder your smoothie. 

The best take is a fact that folks want to argue. So here’s mine: The SEC ain’t meant more since 2022, and it’s liable not to mean much if the Big Ten continues to make like the Incredible Hulk in "The Avengers" and rag-doll opponents like they are Loki in Stark Tower after running his mouth too much. 

"Puny god," Hulk said.

"Puny" — a synonym for small, weak even. 

Hell, if No. 10 Miami stomps out No. 6 Ole Miss in the CFP semifinal at the Fiesta Bowl on Thursday, I’ll be left with no choice but to start to ask: Is the SEC getting sawft?

If you’ll allow me to introduce evidence, Your Honor, I’ve got a sworn statement from a witness to the SEC’s bygone reign of terror. 

The witness worked in the SEC at Alabama and Georgia at their respective heights and even coordinated the Bulldogs' defense before choosing to move above the Mason-Dixon Line and far enough west to find not just gold in them hills but also where the competition is just better, too.

"I've been a part of the SEC, just like [Indiana] coach [Curt] Cignetti has," Oregon coach Dan Lanning said at his availability last Saturday ahead of his No. 5 team's matchup with No. 1 Indiana in the other semifinal, at the Peach Bowl, Friday. "I've been a part of the old Pac-12. I've been a part of a bunch of different conferences, and it's hard to argue that anybody is doing it better right now than the Big Ten. There's some quality from top to bottom."

(Photo by CFP/Getty Images)

More evidence, if the court pleases, Your Honor: 2025 conference bowl records. I’ve listed them from winners to losers to make it easier for the jury to assess the strongest and weakest in college football across leagues.

• ACC, 8-4
• BIG TEN, 9-4
• BIG 12, 4-4
• SEC, 4-9
• PAC-12, 1-0
• AMERICAN, 5-4
• CONFERENCE USA, 4-3
• MAC, 2-3
• MOUNTAIN WEST, 2-5
• SUN BELT, 4-6
• INDEPENDENT, 0-1

Let the record show: The Big Ten boasts a 9-4 record, the SEC is floating next to the Big 12, which hasn't produced a national champion in 21 years, and the MAC, which has yet to produce a CFP team or feature a team in the national title game in the 21st century. 

[College Football Playoff Predictions: The Blueprint That Could Decide Oregon–Indiana]

What I’m saying, Your Honor, is there’s Meek Mill-levels to this, and the SEC ain’t reached the final level, the final game, of the College Football Playoff in two years. And it might not reach it for a third season in a row if Ole Miss doesn't return the SEC to its standard of playing in national title games.

Still, SEC's run is like a waiting sunset just before night, and the dawn of the Big Ten's kingdom grows nearer as the light fades.

"Certainly, five years ago, there wasn't a conference that was rolling and dominating," Lanning said. "And I think the way you indicate that is the success of the teams in the conference. And there's a lot of teams that have had success and a variety of different teams.

"Coach [Cignetti] just mentioned it, but we saw Michigan and Washington a couple years ago in the national championship game. You see Ohio State. This year, you'll see a different Big Ten team. And I think that speaks to the quality and the strength of the conference overall."

Hear that? The last two national champions that have come out of the Big Ten. The Big Ten also is guaranteed to feature a national finalist for a third year in a row with its 2024 and 2025 conference champions taking the Peach Bowl field in by-gawd Atlanta, Georgia, in the house where the SEC features its conference title game.

On Saturday morning, I expect to finish my breakfast at Waffle House and raise a bottle of Milos tea to the conference that looks like the best in the land.

The defense rests, Your Honor.

RJ Young is a national college football writer and analyst for FOX Sports. Follow him @RJ_Young.

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