The SEC has historically been the best conference in college football. However, its status has faced a strong challenge from the Big Ten, and looking at the last three national champions, it’s hard to argue with it. For former Alabama head coach Nick Saban, just winning the national championship doesn’t make you the best conference.

“Whoever wins the National Championship doesn’t define who has the best conference,” Nick Saban said during the 2026 SEC Media Days on July 23. “I think the best conference gets defined by how many good teams you have from top to bottom. And I think the SEC has a lot of good teams from top to bottom.”

Saban is probably the best advocate for the SEC’s competitiveness, given that he coached in the conference for close to two decades. However, the other side also comes into the debate with facts. The Big Ten has claimed the title everyone fights for in college football three consecutive times, with different champions each time. Michigan was the first to start the winning streak, followed by Ohio State. Last season, Indiana grabbed the crown.

And it’s not even about the national champions. The 2025 national championship game was played between Indiana and Miami. Ohio State and Notre Dame competed for the crown in 2024. In 2023, Michigan and Washington fought for the natty. We haven’t had SEC representation in the national championship game for three consecutive years. Before that, Georgia had won the trophy in back-to-back years.

The SEC has a long-standing line of elite powerhouses. Eight or nine teams are capable of beating anyone on a given Saturday (such as Georgia, Texas, Ole Miss, Alabama, and Tennessee), whereas the Big Ten relies on three or four elite, heavily funded programs. It is not the first time Saban has advocated for his former conference.

“I don’t think the Big Ten is really that deep. It’s not like the SEC where you got eight or nine teams that can beat you; there might be three or four teams in the Big Ten that can beat you,” Saban told The Pat McAfee Show in December 2025.

Despite the Big Ten’s top-heavy championship success, the SEC still has greater depth overall, with a higher conference power rating and more total NFL draft selections than the Big Ten. Moreover, the top Big Ten teams are also helped by easier conference matchups.

For instance, Alabama may have to go through the gauntlet of Texas, Georgia, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Missouri, and LSU to make it to the playoffs. On the other hand, a team like Indiana may have to face just Oregon or Ohio State. Having said that, the success of the top teams can’t be discounted when considering this debate, and unless an SEC team wins the natty, the Big Ten will continue to flaunt its superiority.