This article contains affiliate links; if you click such a link and make a purchase, we may earn a commission.Here's why Greg Sankey would pretend SEC football is 'by far' better than Big Ten

Blake Toppmeyer and John Adams, USA TODAY NETWORKTue, June 2, 2026 at 9:46 PM UTC

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The SEC used to brag about its college football national championships. Rightfully so. The SEC won 13 national titles during one 17-year span.

Here in present day, the Big Ten has won three straight national championships, and no SEC team has beaten a Big Ten opponent in a playoff game since 2022.

What’s the root cause of this problem for the SEC?

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Ask SEC commissioner Greg Sankey, and he’ll tell you there is no problem. Sankey denies the Big Ten has pulled ahead of his conference in college football. He says the SEC remains the best conference "by far," and he attributed the Big Ten's success, in part, to the ball bouncing "a couple of times the wrong way."

Sankey also said if the SEC was winning, nobody would ask him about losing.

Well, no kidding.

On this edition of “SEC Football Unfiltered,” a podcast from the USA TODAY Network, hosts Blake Toppmeyer and John Adams discuss Sankey's insistence the SEC remains the nation's best conference "by far," even as the Big Ten racks up national titles and asserts dominance of the 12-team playoff.

Do we buy Greg Sankey’s claim the SEC is 'by far' the best?

Toppmeyer: There’s an old saying in law circles. Goes something like this: If the facts are on your side, pound the facts. If the law is on your side, pound the law. If neither the facts nor the law is on your side, pound the table.

That applies here. Sankey did the equivalent of pounding the table while touting dubious “metrics,” because what else can he argue? The Big Ten is 4-0 against the SEC in playoff games the past three seasons. The B1G produced three straight national champions. The SEC’s claims of superior depth took a hit after the Music City and ReliaQuest bowls.

So, this offseason, the SEC has shifted to claiming its worst teams are better than the Big Ten’s worst teams and talking about “metrics.”

Conferences that win championships brag about their championships. Conferences that don’t win championships talk “metrics” and how good Arkansas and Mississippi State are.

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Adams: Sankey says he’s reviewed “metrics” that indicate the SEC remains the sport’s dominant conference, “by far.” Well, I haven’t seen those metrics. But, I did see this:

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Indiana 38, Alabama 3.

Nobody cares about your “metrics” when your storied brand (and your conference runner-up) is getting whipped in the Rose Bowl by a former basketball school.

The SEC has a problem, whether Sankey wants to admit it or not.

Why would Greg Sankey make this claim and deny Big Ten superiority?

Toppmeyer: There’s a couple of possibilities:

1. Sankey is simply living in blissful denial of the Big Ten’s superiority.

2. Sankey is firing up the propaganda machine. He's good at this. If you confidently pretend the SEC remains “by far” the best, maybe someone will believe you. Ideally, those somebodies will be on the CFP selection committee.

Adams: I suppose he could’ve said this: During my watch, the SEC lost its footing as the nation’s best college football conference.

Never mind. That's not something a smart commissioner would say.

Is Greg Sankey responsible for SEC’s slip in football?

Toppmeyer: Sankey might need to brainstorm some potential conference-wide solutions, like he did to the SEC men’s basketball problem he inherited at the beginning of his commissionership. He helped fix the SEC in men’s hoops.

But, although he ought to be looking for answers, I don’t think he’s the person foremost responsible for the SEC’s football slide. NIL and transfer freedom changed the game. Sankey didn’t cause that. Also, don't give the SEC’s coaches a free pass. SEC coaches are quick to tell you the conference produced the most NFL Draft picks this spring. OK, Mr. Coach, so if you’re oozing NFL talent, why can’t you beat the Big Ten? And, please, spare my the arguments about Arkansas being too good.

Adams: I blame the coaches, more than the commissioner. Curt Cignetti led Indiana to the national championship, not Tony Petitti. When the SEC won 13 national titles in 17 years, 10 of those titles were supplied by guys named Saban, Meyer and Smart. Two of those coaches are now retired. The SEC needs another coaching great or two within its ranks. Or, maybe just persuade Urban to come out of retirement?

Later in the episode

∎ What's up with Texas' Steve Sarkisian this offseason? He's slinging mud at Mississippi and riling up Texas Tech. Is this evidence of Sark feeling the pressure at Texas?

Where to listen to SEC Football Unfiltered -

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Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network's senior national college football columnist. John Adams is the senior sports columnist for the Knoxville News Sentinel. Subscribe to the SEC Football Unfiltered podcast, and check out the SEC Unfiltered newsletter, delivered straight to your inbox.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Why would SEC's Greg Sankey deny Big Ten superiority? Here's one idea

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