Ohio State Football: Maryland coach thinks Big Ten is similar to SEC

The Ohio State football program has been trying tirelessly to catch the top of the SEC. Programs like Alabama, which beat Ohio State in the 2020 National Championship Game, LSU, and Georgia have all won titles in the last four years. Specifically, the SEC West has been dominant for the most part, except last year when Georgia won it all.

Mike Locksley, the head coach at Maryland, was an Alabama assistant before moving on to coach the Terrapins. He recently said something very interesting, saying that the Big Ten East is extremely similar to the SEC West in terms of quality.

If that’s the case, then the Ohio State football program is Alabama in this scenario. They are at the top of the Big Ten East and only just recently found some competition in their own division. Unfortunately, they don’t have the national titles that Bama does.

At the top of the divisions, you could make a case that Locksley is right. In the Big Ten East, the best teams are typically Ohio State, Penn State, Michigan State, and TTUN. All are typically in the top 25 in some capacity in a given year. The SEC West has Bama, LSU, Auburn, and Ole Miss.

Penn State, Auburn, and LSU all had down years in 2021. But all have shown sustained success over the past 10 years. The reason why the SEC West still gets the nod over the Big Ten East in terms of strength is because of the fact that two programs have won national titles in the last three years from that division.

Until programs from the East start winning on that level, the SEC is going to continue to be the best conference and have the best division as well.