Kirby Smart explains Big Ten's competitive edge over SEC this decade

While college football has long been a league with multiple conferences, from the Power 5 to the Group of 6, for the most part over the last couple of decades, there have been two conferences that have stood apart from the rest.

In this century, the SEC and Big Ten have largely been dominant. From the Nick Saban years at Alabama and the Kirby Smart years at Georgia, to Ryan Day's run at Ohio State and Jim Harbaugh's time at Michigan, a majority of the national champions over the past 25 years have come from one of those two conferences.

In the past few years, though, it appears that the Big Ten is taking a step in front of the SEC when it comes to conference hierarchy. Each of the past three champions — Michigan, Ohio State, and Indiana — has come from the Big Ten, which is leading some to question the reason for the change.

Georgia head coach Kirby Smart posited a theory earlier this spring.

“I can’t figure out what it is. I just think they have a more competitive conference at the top of their conference," Smart said. "There are more good teams. It used to be that Ohio State was good, but now Michigan was really good when Harbaugh was there. Indiana is a great team, now they’ve got Oregon. They’ve got a draw; they have the ability to attract good players. NIL has a factor too, for sure, so does Miami, more people have money. The talent is spread out thin, where before, the SEC was a magnet for talent. The disparity was so great, it’s like you would win regardless. And now it’s more even, it’s been three in a row.”

While the Big Ten has undoubtedly been a great conference at the top over the past few years, there is also the fact that after those 3-5 "good" teams, the drop-off is pretty significant. Compared to the SEC, the teams ranked 6-12 are far worse in the Big Ten than they are down south.