Will SEC Keep Talking After More Big Ten Dominance?

The Indiana Hoosiers are National Champions, a sentence that would have seemed impossible just a few years ago. In a close, hard-fought game against an outstanding Miami Hurricanes team, the Hoosiers held on, pulling in a game-ending interception late in the fourth quarter on a Carson Beck pass.

Indiana finished the season 16-0, an incredible accomplishment in a top conference, especially considering the gauntlet they went through to end it. 

• Beat Ohio State 13-10
• Beat Alabama 38-3
• Beat Oregon 56-22
• Beat Miami 27-21

Indianapolis to Pasadena to Atlanta to Miami, four elite programs, four top 5-10 teams, just 56 points allowed in four games. Road wins over Iowa, Penn State and Oregon. They went the whole season without allowing more than 24 points. In fact, out of 16 games, they allowed 20 points or more just four times. And one of those was exactly 20. That's as impressive of a season as you'll ever see in college football. 

And it solidified something that's been brewing for several seasons now: the Big Ten Conference, which now has three straight National Championships, is the new dominant power in the sport, replacing the SEC. It's been covered extensively, but the SEC's 2025-2026 postseason was abysmal. Embarrassing. Humiliating. The conference did not win a playoff game against a non-SEC Power 4 team. The SEC was 1-8 against Power 4 teams in bowl games. The Big Ten is now 8-1 against the SEC in postseason games over the last two years.

There is a long, long list of quotes from SEC coaches and personnel talking about their supposed dominance. But will Indiana's win finally put all their posturing to rest?

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. - Aiden Fisher #4 of the Indiana Hoosiers reacts after a sack during the first quarter against the Miami Hurricanes in the 2026 College Football Playoff National Championship at Hard Rock Stadium on January 19, 2026.  (Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images)

SEC Coaches Couldn't Stop Talking, Will This Postseason End The Arrogance?

Again, the propaganda coming from SEC boosters has been extreme and absurd to say the least. Let's run through just a few highlights to demonstrate.

Lane Kiffin in 2024 about the SEC, and "a few" Big Ten teams: "You might as well be in different leagues. Not conferences, different leagues.

"It is a grind. I’m not complaining about the work part. It’s a grind on the kids to do that and be able to get up... It’s really like the NFL, and I don’t feel like that’s the case in these other conferences. You have a really good conference similar to us [the Big Ten] that’s top-heavy, but doesn't have the middle and bottom the way that we do."

Reminder, the Big 10 is now 8-1 against the SEC in the last two postseasons. 

Greg Sankey just last month argued for seven SEC teams in the playoff, because the conference is just "different," with a higher level of competition than everywhere else. 

"I actually think we deserve seven in," he said, referring to the number of conference teams that should be in the playoff. "I think the seven teams that are in the top-14, half of the top 14 teams are from the SEC. That's an indication that this league is different, the expectations are different, the competition is different, and the rewards should respect each of those elements."

Vanderbilt head coach Clark Lea told OutKick in December that the SEC deserved preferential treatment over other conferences because of the conference "gauntlet," saying it's "absurd" to view records from other conferences similarly to the SEC.

"This should be about the 12 best teams in the country and a 10-2 team in the SEC … look, obviously we love our league. It just means more here and all that kind of stuff, but there’s a level of respect that needs to be held for the gauntlet we’ve been through and how we’ve met the match and done the things we need to do," Lea said. "I mean, it is just absurd the idea that we’re going to open the door to teams that play in conferences that aren’t the SEC that have the same record we have. I mean, it’s crazy."

Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian said it would be a "disservice" to the sport to not have his mediocre, three-loss SEC team in the playoff. Before the season, he added, "This idea of somebody's gonna go 16-0 in college football. Man, put a statue up somewhere of that team. Because I just don't know if that's gonna happen again."

Indiana just went 16-0.

These are just a few examples of how prominent SEC personalities talk about the conference. It's just different. We deserve more. Nobody can compete with us. It's a gauntlet. The Big Ten just won its third straight title, while the SEC hasn't reached the National Championship game since 2023. This raises the all-important question: will the SEC actually learn its lesson?

No, of course not. Absolutely not. Definitely not. Never. Not in a million years. The assumption of superiority in the SEC is so baked into its very core that there is nothing, no outcome significant enough, no humiliation deep enough, that can change it. The SEC is stuck in the world of the 2010's, when Nick Saban's Alabama teams were dominant, and Joe Burrow's LSU dominated 2019. 

Three different teams from the SEC have won titles in the College Football Playoff era, and Indiana makes it three Big Ten teams to win a championship in that time frame. It's clear that the NIL era has leveled the playing field, making it easier for teams in other conferences to pull talent out of the SEC region, whether through high school recruiting or in the transfer portal. And despite the brand names and big stadiums in the SEC, the level of coaching and quality has dipped, substantially. 

Yes, the SEC will continue to have top teams; the structure of college football in 2026-2027 guarantees it. There's too much money behind programs like Florida, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Texas, Georgia, LSU and Alabama for those teams not to field quality rosters most seasons. But it's clear that the portal has eroded roster depth, making coaching and development that much more important. If SEC programs were willing to be intellectually honest, they'd simply admit that, stop making grandiose statements they can't back up, put their heads down and win. The move to a nine-game conference schedule though, will simply add to the "gauntlet" noise. Only play themselves, then talk up how hard it is to only play themselves.

There's no reason to believe that an SEC team can't win it all next year. But as Indiana's success this year, and the Big Ten's success the past few seasons, shows, all the talking is just that.