Nick Saban took aim at the Big Ten’s depth Friday, arguing the Southeastern Conference already has far more ranked teams than its chief rival as the second week of the college football season begins.
“We’ve (SEC) already got nine teams in the top-25. It’s not like the Big Ten where there’s three good teams at the top and then nothing,” Saban said on “The Pat McAfee Show.”
The comments, first highlighted by On3, quickly circulated on social media and reignited a familiar debate over which league is stronger from top to bottom.
Saban, the former Alabama and LSU coach who now works as an ESPN analyst, made the remark after host Pat McAfee asked whether the SEC was getting deeper this year.
The Associated Press Top 25 released Tuesday showed nine SEC teams ranked: No. 2 Georgia, No. 4 Texas, No. 8 LSU, No. 9 Ole Miss, No. 10 Texas A&M, No. 11 Oklahoma, No. 12 Alabama, No. 18 Tennessee and No. 23 Missouri.
The Big Ten had seven ranked teams: No. 1 Ohio State, No. 5 Indiana, No. 6 Oregon, No. 14 USC, No. 16 Penn State, No. 19 Washington and No. 21 Iowa.
Saban’s “three good teams at the top” line pointed to Ohio State, Indiana and Oregon, the only Big Ten programs sitting in the top six.
The SEC opened 16-0 in Week 1. Thirteen of those wins came against Group of Five or FCS opponents, though Ole Miss beat Louisville 41-38, Auburn edged Baylor 17-16 and LSU routed Clemson 51-10.
The Big Ten’s first weekend was rockier. Rutgers lost 37-21 to UMass. No. 2 Oregon needed a late push to beat Boise State 34-27 as a heavy favorite. Wisconsin fell 41-13 to Notre Dame. Michigan needed a controversial extra play and a Hail Mary to beat Western Michigan 13-12 and later dropped out of the Top 25.
Those results gave Saban fresh ammunition. The Big Ten has still won the last three national championships, with Michigan in 2023, Ohio State in 2024 and Indiana in 2025.
Saban has rejected the idea that recent titles prove conference superiority. In July he said the conversation exists mainly because the SEC dominated for so long.
“I think the only reason people are talking about this is (the SEC) dominated for so long, and we were so good, everybody makes a big deal out of being able to beat us,” Saban said then. “That doesn’t mean they’re better than us, and that doesn’t mean that just because you win the championship that you have a better conference. It just means you have one better team.”
The latest remarks landed a day before No. 1 Ohio State visits No. 4 Texas in Austin, the weekend’s highest-profile interconference game.
On3’s post sharing the Saban clip drew more than 1.2 million views, thousands of likes and hundreds of quote posts within hours.
Critics noted the Big Ten still has seven ranked teams and recent playoff hardware. Supporters of Saban’s view pointed to the SEC’s nine Top 25 entries and seven teams inside the top 12.
Saban spent 22 seasons as an SEC head coach, winning seven national titles, five at Alabama and two at LSU. He also coached Michigan State in the Big Ten from 1995 to 1999.
College football’s expanded playoff has only intensified the argument. Depth, strength of schedule and how many teams can survive a 12-team bracket now matter as much as a single championship banner.
Saturday’s Ohio State-Texas game will not settle the debate. It will, however, put Saban’s comments back on television as the two conferences collide again.
The rest of the season will test whether the SEC’s early ranking advantage holds or whether the Big Ten’s top programs, and the teams behind them, prove there is more there than Saban suggested.
For now, the former coach has drawn a sharp line: nine ranked SEC teams versus what he called three good Big Ten teams and then nothing.
