The recirculating debate over college football conference supremacy signals we have reached peak offseason. During the SEC’s spring meetings, commissioner Greg Sankey lit the powder keg once more while discussing the future of the College Football Playoff.
Sankey took veiled shots at the Big 12 and the ACC. He also spent considerable time banging the strength of schedule drum in an argument that the SEC, above all other leages, deserves a strong level of representation in the postseason.
The SEC even went so far as providing a seven-page document outlining the “regular-season gauntlet” its conference’s members have to run every year. A picture of that document, posted by The Action Network, sparked a wry response from Illinois coach Bret Bielema.
He challenged the “EXTREMELY talented working group” put together by the SEC to take another look at the numbers with a bit more context.
So I thought I would answer Bielema’s call. I dove into his specific requests to see what the numbers say about the SEC’s purported dominance.
Here’s a look at what I found.
Still undecided, SEC holds the key to College Football Playoff as 5+11 format gains steam
Brandon Marcello
SEC against Power Four in 2024
Bielema wrote “Maybe 2025 season” in his initial post, but it’s safe to assume that he meant 2024, since the 2025 season has yet to actually play out. This seems like a good place to start, since it was the easiest to calculate and since college football is a what-have-you-done-lately sport.
The SEC fared very well against power…
Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/illinois-coach-bret-bielema-asked-so-we-answered-how-the-sec-has-fared-against-power-four-in-recent-years/
Author : Will Backus
Publish date : 2025-05-30 17:48:00
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