Bret Bielema strengthens Big Ten superiority, as Nick Saban moves SEC goalpost

The debate has raged on for years now about which conference is better, the SEC or Big Ten.

You could easily make the argument that the SEC won the 2010s, as Alabama dominated and a few other SEC programs sprinkled in national championships.

Times have changed, but former Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban is stuck in the past. He went on ESPN’s Get Up and espoused that the top conference in college football isn’t necessarily the conference that houses the national champion.

“First of all, whoever wins the national championship, doesn’t define who has the best conference.”

That is a major detraction from what most fans have heard coming out of the SEC over the years. All you heard from 2010 through the early 2020s was how good the SEC was, and one of the reasons was that they had the national champ the majority of the time.

Saban continued on.

“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.”

So, with Saban all but saying that the Big Ten isn’t the best conference in college football, despite having the last three national champs and all being different programs, Illinois head coach Bret Bielema chimed in.

Bielema quote retweeted the video on social media with a picture of the results of Illinois’ last two bowl games, against South Carolina in the Citrus Bowl and Tennessee in the Music City Bowl. He also added a caption.

“I agree with you coach and appreciate you bringing this up…… #ILL #CFB”

The case that Bret Bielema makes for Big Ten depth is pretty strong

Saban’s argument for the SEC to be the best conference is not the national title winner. It isn’t the top teams, and that is a convenient argument, as the SEC got five teams into a 12-team College Football Playoff last year and only one made it to the Final Four.

Now the goalpost moves, and the best conference is determined by depth. Bielema shows that Illinois proves the Big Ten has better depth, too.

Two seasons ago, Illinois played South Carolina in the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl. We won the game 21-17. The Illini finished tied for fifth in the Big Ten that season. South Carolina was tied for fourth in the SEC.

In 2025, Illinois headed to the Liberty Mutual Music City Bowl against Tennessee. We won this game 30-28 over the Volunteers. Tennessee was tied for eighth in the SEC while Illinois was in a three-way tie for seventh in the Big Ten. Illinois was a three-point underdog entering the game, but we beat Tennessee.

So, at the end of the day, what are we talking about? The Big Ten has the better top teams right now. We have the better depth, as Illinois proves that case. Are we really going to argue about who is better, Purdue or Arkansas, and then say that conference is best?

The Big Ten is better, and the SEC talking heads need to stop moving the goalposts. If you want to be better than the Big Ten, prove it in the coming months. For now, we have the crown.

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