Eli Drinkwitz took a swing at the Big Ten on Monday, and the explanation he offered for the league’s recent national title run was as flimsy as they come.
The Missouri coach was asked what he thought the secret was behind the Big Ten’s three straight national championships, and he pointed straight to the schedule. “ When you don’t play a (non-conference) A4 game,” Drinkwitz said.
That line landed with a thud, especially with Michigan, Ohio State and Indiana having won the last three national titles in college football. With Indiana and Ohio State reloading and Oregon still in the mix, a fourth straight Big Ten crown does not exactly feel like a wild idea.
Yes, Big Ten teams often open the year with a few soft non-conference games. Nebraska’s slate this season includes Ohio, Bowling Green and North Dakota, which is hardly the kind of lineup that strikes fear into a Power 4 opponent. But that’s a long way from explaining what happens once those teams reach the postseason.
That’s where Drinkwitz’s argument falls apart.
Once Big Ten teams get into the playoff, they are not lining up against FCS opponents. They are facing the best teams in the country, and the recent title runs have come in those games, not in September tune-ups.
Indiana’s championship last year came after a playoff run that included a 38-3 win over Alabama, a 56-22 win over Oregon and a 27-21 victory over Miami in the championship game. Before that, Indiana had already beaten Ohio State in the Big Ten title game to earn a first-round bye.
Ohio State’s 2024 title path was just as direct. The Buckeyes beat Tennessee, Oregon, Texas and Notre Dame on their way to the championship, and they went 2-0 against the SEC in the College Football Playoff. That had nothing to do with whether their first three games months earlier were easy.
The irony here is hard to miss. Drinkwitz is coming from the SEC, a league that until this year made a habit of scheduling an FCS team late in the season so teams could rest up for the stretch run and the playoff.
Missouri was not always part of that pattern, but its own 2025 non-conference schedule of Central Arkansas, Kansas and Louisiana was hardly a gauntlet. This year, it is Arkansas Pine-Bluff, Kansas and Troy.
Kansas is there because of the long-running Big 12 rivalry, not because it makes the schedule tougher.
Big Ten schools have been open about why they often keep the non-conference slate manageable: the conference is already brutal enough. That is part of why USC dropped one of college football’s most historic rivalries to play San Jose State.
Drinkwitz would have a better case if he were talking about the road to the College Football Playoff. But once the Big Ten gets there, the results speak for themselves.
There are plenty of reasons opposing coaches like to take shots at the league. Commissioner Tony Pettiti is not exactly making friends this summer. Still, after Pat Narduzzi’s comments last week and now Drinkwitz’s swipe, the Big Ten is getting plenty of jokes back - even from Nebraska fans.
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