Nick Saban and Pat McAfee Credit: The Pat McAfee Show
By Sean Keeley on

You don’t need Nick Saban to tell you that there’s a college football arms race happening between the Big Ten and SEC. But what the legendary former Alabama head coach will tell you is that he thinks the Big Ten is winning.

“We always talk about that. I never think about it, I just look at the teams, but there is a rivalry between the Big Ten and the SEC,” Saban said on Friday’s edition of The Pat McAfee Show (via On3). “It can’t be denied.”

The SEC seemed to have the title of best college football conference wrapped up for most of the 2010s and early 2020s. However, the Big Ten has won the last two national titles. And Saban, who won national titles at LSU and Alabama, sees how NIL has helped level the playing field just enough to make this a race again.

“I think that the SEC was the SEC because of the culture in the South. There wasn’t professional football in the South for a long time, and everybody related to the colleges. Well, now that doesn’t matter,” Saban added. “I mean, kids grew up wanting to go to LSU, Alabama, and Georgia. Got the money now. They don’t mind going to Ohio State. They don’t mind going to other places.

“So, that geographic advantage that the Southeast Conference may be changing a little bit now, with the different culture, with NIL and the money involved in decision-making. I think that’s created a bit of an edge for the Big Ten.”

McAfee echoed his College GameDay counterpart’s sentiments.

“I will say this, the Big Ten has a lot of money,” McAfee added. “Everyone’s going to say what they’ll say about that whole thing. I don’t think we all understood how much money all the North has, the Big Ten has. Like, did we understand that Penn State had money? I don’t think I knew that, even as someone who grew up in Pittsburgh with a lot of friends who were Penn Staters and members of that cult. It’s like, I didn’t know they had so much money. … They needed $700 million to upgrade their stadium, and it was like four calls for the athletic director.

“We assumed that the South was going to be able to keep up. It just feels like the Big Ten has more alumni with more money, and that’s a big part of the game right now.”

That’s probably a bit naive to think Penn State didn’t have the financial wherewithal to compete in the Big Ten and national scene, but the point stands. It’s also amusing to listen to two ESPN CFB analysts express some surprise that the Big Ten and SEC have more money than ever while preparing for their second-straight GameDay show from an SEC-Big Ten matchup.

Of course, you won’t find too many people in the ACC, Big 12, Pac-12, and other conferences crying over how the SEC and Big Ten schools have to spend more to compete with one another. They’re just hoping to stick around long enough to beat them or, more likely, join them.

About Sean Keeley

Along with writing for Awful Announcing and The Comeback, Sean is the Managing Editor for Comeback Media. Previously, he created the Syracuse blog Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician and wrote 'How To Grow An Orange: The Right Way to Brainwash Your Child Into Rooting for Syracuse.' He has also written non-Syracuse-related things for SB Nation, Curbed, and other outlets. He currently lives in Seattle where he is complaining about bagels. Send tips/comments/complaints to sean@thecomeback.com.

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