Bret Bielema didn’t just weigh in on the SEC vs. Big Ten debate Friday morning - he took a playful swipe at it.
After Nick Saban argued on ESPN’s Get Up that national championships alone don’t settle which league is best, the Illinois coach jumped onto social media with a pointed response. Saban had said, “Whoever wins the national championship doesn’t define who has the best conference,” and added, “I think the best conference gets defined by how many good teams you have from top to bottom.”
Bielema’s reply opened with agreement: “I agree with you coach and appreciate you bringing this up,” he wrote.
Then he let the results do the talking.
Bielema posted the score boxes from Illinois’ two most recent bowl wins, both against SEC opponents. The Fighting Illini beat South Carolina 21-17 in the Citrus Bowl to close the 2024 season, then followed that up almost exactly a year later with a 30-28 win over Tennessee in the Music City Bowl.
That gave Bielema a tidy little argument of his own: the Big Ten has had more than just the teams winning the national title over the last three seasons. And with Bielema having coached at Arkansas from 2013-17 before taking over Illinois in 2021, the jab carried a little extra bite.
For now, though, the conference bragging rights won’t be settled in July. Those answers come this fall, when Big Ten and SEC teams, along with the rest of college football, take the field and the College Football Playoff picture starts to come into focus.
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