For years, the dominant conference in college football has been the Southeastern Conference (SEC).
Since the start of the College Football Playoff era in 2014, the SEC has won six of 11 national championships.
However, the tide could be turning, as a new superior conference may emerge, according to FOX’s Colin Cowherd.
The past two national champions have come from the Big Ten: Michigan in 2023 and Ohio State last year. Could this indicate a power shift in college football?
With an expanded conference, the Big Ten conference now includes Oregon, USC, UCLA and Washington.
While UCLA isn’t a significant player in terms of conference impact, the advantages of NIL and revenue sharing make being a college student in Los Angeles more appealing.
However, UCLA will still have to compete with crosstown rival USC, which has more recent success and a bigger brand.
In its first year in the Big Ten, Oregon won the conference championship, defeating Penn State 45-37 and capping off a perfect regular season. Oregon earned a first-round bye in the newly formatted CFP, while two other Big Ten teams prepared for their first-round games.
Penn State easily handled SMU, 38-10. Ohio State, coming off an upset loss to unranked rival Michigan, faced Tennessee in a highly anticipated matchup.
In the first Big Ten vs. SEC game of the new CFP era, this matchup served as a measurement of the two superior conferences. The Buckeyes routed Tennessee, 42-17.
On their path to another national championship, the Buckeyes faced another SEC opponent, the Texas Longhorns. Ohio State and Texas met in the semifinals; while the Buckeyes didn’t dominate the Longhorns as decisively as they did against Tennessee, they still won by two scores and held Texas to 14 points — the lowest scored against them since November 2022.
Cowherd pointed out that with NIL, the Big Ten now has money to spend and isn’t afraid to do so.
Last year, Ohio State had the most expensive roster, spending over $20 million on its team. This year, they again rank among the top spenders in the sport, coming in at No. 3, with three other Big Ten schools close behind: No. 4 Oregon, and Michigan and USC tied for seventh.
In 2023, on their route to a national championship, Michigan defeated Alabama in the CFP Semifinals at the Rose Bowl, 27-20. Last season, in a “down” year for both programs, they met again in the ReliaQuest Bowl and it was the same result. Michigan defeated Alabama 19-13.
To kick off the 2025-26 season, some of the top teams in the Big Ten and SEC are set to meet in Week 1. Ohio State hosts Texas in a rematch of the Cotton Bowl Semifinal, and the Buckeyes are favored -2.5 in this highly anticipated Week 1 matchup.
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