Sankey touts SEC as best 'by far' despite Big Ten dominance - ESPN

MIRAMAR BEACH, Fla. — The Big Ten has won the past three national titles in football and is 4-0 against the SEC over the past three seasons in head-to-head College Football Playoff matchups, but SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said on Wednesday those metrics are a «pretty narrow band» and his league still «stands alone.»

«If you look at the entirety of our league, we are by far the most competitive, the strongest football league by far,» Sankey told reporters following the second full day of SEC spring meetings. «But you're going to lose games when it's close and competitive like that. So why have they surpassed us? It's an oddball, it's bounced a couple times the wrong way.»

When a reporter asked why the Big Ten has moved past the SEC in football performance in the CFP, Sankey didn't bristle at the question but was armed with a response. He pointed out that Michigan beat Alabama 27-20 in overtime in the 2024 CFP semifinal at the Rose Bowl and quickly broke down Ohio State's 28-14 CFP semifinal win against Texas in the Cotton Bowl.

He also recounted Miami's thrilling win against Ole Miss this past season in the Fiesta Bowl, where the Rebels fell short after a last-second pass in the end zone fell incomplete.

«That wasn't a hail Mary, that was an attempt to score a touchdown in the last play, and those, those are small margins between winning and losing,» he said, «and we prevailed on those small margins a number of times.»

The Big Ten has won three straight national titles for the second time since the AP Poll made its in 1936 (1940-42). Meanwhile, the SEC has not made a national championship game in three seasons, the conference's longest streak since 1999-2002. According to ESPN Research, there had been at least one SEC