Big Ten’s Football Title Streak Bothers SEC, Missouri Coach Sounds Off

College football’s balance of power seems to have shifted back in the Big Ten’s direction as the conference has won the last two national championships.

That ended a historic run of dominance by the SEC and the South generally, something that irks Missouri head coach Eli Drinkwitz.

“It bothers us as competitors,” Drinkwitz said to ESPN.

“We feel like we’re the best conference in college football, and we want to make sure that the ultimate prize at the end of the year is that national championship trophy.”

Michigan in 2023 and then Ohio State in 2024 ended a streak of eight-straight national championships won by Southern schools either in the SEC or Clemson.

SEC teams won six of the previous eight national championships and 14 titles since the start of the 21st century, including seven straight from 2006-12.

It was a subject of conversation among those attending the SEC spring meetings over the past few days, and may have partially inspired a proposal made public by LSU head coach Brian Kelly for the league to play Big Ten opponents during the regular season.

The last time the SEC went two straight years without a national championship was in 2013 and 2014, when Florida State won the last BCS title and then Ohio State claimed the first-ever College Football Playoff championship.

“We haven’t been able to do that the last two years, and I think we’re all competitive enough that’s often what we’re competing for,” Drinkwitz said.

“I don’t know if two years is a data point yet or a trend. Obviously, we have to take a look and see what we can do better.”

One big data point in the SEC’s run was Nick Saban, college football’s most accomplished head coach, who won six national championships at Alabama.

Georgia has helped carry the SEC in recent years, as well, winning two straight national titles in the playoff era behind some of the sport’s most statistically dominant defense.

Three of Alabama’s six modern titles came in the playoff era, while LSU won in 2019 playing some of the best offense the sport has ever seen.

Ohio State used statement wins against two SEC opponents, against Tennessee in the first round and over Texas in the semifinal, on its national title run in 2024.

And the Big Ten edged out the SEC in College Football Playoff bids last season, 4 to 3, and came out of the postseason with a better record than its Southern counterpart.

Now the SEC and Big Ten are working together in an effort to expand the playoff to 16 teams while potentially awarding themselves four automatic qualifiers each, every year.

If they get their way, we could see a lot more SEC vs. Big Ten football head to head in the postseason, giving Drinkwitz and his peers more chances to change the narrative.

(Drinkwitz)

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