SEC coaches are at it again.
For years (decades?), those coaches gloated about how great their conference is, and how the SEC schedule is a gauntlet, week in and week out. Now that the Big Ten has won three straight national championships in football, SEC coaches have turned to the fact that Big Ten teams aren't required to play a Power Four opponent during their non-conference slate. The Big Ten is the only Power Four conference that doesn't require its members to play a non-conference game against a Power Four opponent.
During Missouri’s appearance at SEC Football Media Days on Monday, Missouri coach Eliah Drinkwitz argued that the Big Ten’s success over the last three years was built on not playing Power 4 teams in non-conference play.
“There’s been a couple of reasons (for the Big Ten’s success),” Drinkwitz said Monday at SEC Football Media Days. “I think there was some great decisions by their leadership. There’s some things we look back on in the SEC and maybe we shouldn’t have done it that way.
“There’s also cycles to college football. And once you get into expanded playoffs, it’s all about matchups and draws and our matchups and draws haven’t been as good as we obviously wanted them to be in order to be successful. Obviously, when you don’t play an A4 (Power 4) game as one of your non-conference games and that was the quote you were looking for. It’s pretty obvious.
“I distinctly remember last year being in SEC meetings when we were discussing the 8 to 9 game scenario and we were being told that if we didn’t vote to go to a nine-game then the playoffs wouldn’t expand,” Drinkwitz said. “And so we made that decision (to play a ninth league game). But in hindsight, we did not recognize that (the Big Ten) didn’t play a (Power 4 non-conference) game.”
On a related note, Missouri's Power Four non-conference foe this season is Kansas. The Jayhawks are coming off two straight 5-7 seasons and have just one winning season since 2007. The Tigers' other two non-conference matchups are against Arkansas-Pine Bluff and Troy.
On another related note, the Big Ten has not only won three straight national championships, but the conference has taken care of the SEC along the way to those rings.
Michigan beat Alabama, 27-20, in the CFP semifinal before beating Washington – who beat Texas – in the national championship game three years ago. Two years ago, Ohio State dominated Tennessee, 42-17, and beat Texas, 28-14, in the CFP on the Buckeyes' road to winning the national championship. Then, last season, Indiana dominated Alabama, 38-3, before the Hoosiers concluded their undefeated season with a national title.
So, when it has mattered most over the last three years, the Big Ten is a perfect 4-0 against the SEC in the CFP, outscoring them 137-54 in those games.
While the B1G doesn't require it, 13 teams are playing P4 noncon games:
— Stefan Krajisnik (@skrajisnik3) July 20, 2026
- Ohio St: @ Texas
- Oregon: @ OK St
- Michigan: OU
- Iowa: Iowa St
- Illinois: Duke
- Minn: Miss St
- NW: Colorado
- UCLA: @ Cal
- Rutgers: @ BC
- Wisco: ND
- Maryland: VT
- MSU: at ND
- Purdue: Wake, ND
Over the last three seasons, the SEC is just 3-8 in CFP games (excluding two SEC vs. SEC matchups), including a 2-8 record vs. Power Four competition.
Meanwhile, Missouri finished 8-5 last season, one that concluded with a loss to Virginia in the Gator Bowl – and that was with non-conference games against Central Arkansas, Louisiana and UMass, and only eight conference games against SEC opponents.
If only the Tigers and the rest of the SEC weren't forced – by their own conference, nonetheless – to play a Power Four non-conference game along with a nine-game SEC schedule going forward.
