For years, ESPN’s Paul Finebaum has been adamant that the SEC is the premiere college football conference. But after Ohio State’s National Championship win marked a second straight year where the Big Ten has reigned supreme, he was forced to change his tune, something that Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule greatly appreciated.
Since Rhule arrived in Nebraska in 2023, he has been adamant that the Big Ten is the best league in college football, calling it the NFL of college football.
At the time, Paul Finebaum mocked Rhule for this take on ESPN’s Get Up, telling him to “stay in his line” and not to “worry about the big boys” in the SEC.
On Tuesday’s edition of Get Up, Finebaum was forced to finally agree with Rhule in his assessment that college football now runs through the Big Ten.
“Does the Big Ten own college football?” Mike Greenberg asked Finebaum.
“The answer Greeny is yes,” replied Finebaum. “The Big Ten at the moment owns college football. And there is no way you can say it doesn’t. When you go back-to-back, that’s generational. In Ohio State’s case, they beat two SEC schools along the way. There is an old saying in 1828 when Andrew Jackson was elected president. A Senator from New York said ‘To the victor belongs to spoils’. That’s exactly where the Big Ten is this morning. It’s an uncomfortable feeling for the SEC which has owned the sport. But it’s a reality this morning.”
“The Big Ten at the moment owns college football.”
—@finebaum has high praise for the Big Ten 🤩 pic.twitter.com/a7LlhOwi73
— Get Up (@GetUpESPN) January 21, 2025
Matt Rhule caught wind of Finebaum’s reassessment and decided to have some fun with his “friend” on social media. In a post on X, Rhule threw shade at the SEC Network host by playing Finebaum’s statements before and after Ohio State’s championship victory.
What an amazing 2024 college football season. Congratulations to @OhioStateFB and @ryandaytime . Looking forward to another exciting year of football in 2025 with everyone who makes this game so special like my friend @finebaum pic.twitter.com/SQEDQ3rW7F
— Matt Rhule (@CoachMattRhule) January 21, 2025
To be fair, Finebaum is far from the only college football personality to tout the SEC as the top conference in football before now. That said, he is the most prominent face of SEC support at ESPN, a network that has received a significant amount of scrutiny for a perceived SEC bias.
About Reice Shipley
Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.