Over the years, ESPN has over-inflated the SEC's strength. It was like that even before they signed a TV deal to broadcast the entire conference. Meanwhile, the Ohio State football program would be underrated until the middle of the season, when pundits finally decided they were good.
Part of the reason for that is the horrible metrics that ESPN uses in the preseason. Those metrics usually inflate how tough the SEC is as a conference. Teams that have no business being high in the FPI somehow appear in the top 10, which inflates other programs' strength of schedule.
The Buckeyes are actually rated first in their FPI metric heading into the season. Yet, the SEC bias is very apparent, despite their love for them. In fact, their strength-of-schedule metric is a perfect indicator of just how high that bias is heading into the season.
The strength of schedule metric shows how biased ESPN truly is towards the SEC
According to ESPN, the seven hardest schedules reside in the SEC. In fact, they have 14 of the top 15 toughest schedules in the SEC. Only Ohio State breaks up that run of SEC teams, as they have the eighth-toughest schedule. That kind of bias is, quite frankly, insane.
To say that essentially the entire conference has a tougher schedule than anyone else in the country is wrong. Last season, the SEC proved how overrated a conference they are. Once again, they didn't have a representative in the national championship. Their bowl game record was a pitiful 5-9, and that includes the CFP results.
It's pretty clear that the money ESPN is giving to the SEC is clouding their judgment, just as it always has. The Ohio State Buckeyes have a chance to truly show that in Week 2 when they take on Texas for the third straight year. Another win against the Longhorns would make it undeniable that the Big Ten is better.
The Ohio State football team has a chnace to shove the SEC in a locker for good
The Big Ten has won the last three national championships, including Ohio State's 2024 victory. That alone shows that the Big Ten is now the best conference in the country. The Buckeyes have a real shot to put the entire SEC in a locker this year, based on their performance this year.
Beating Texas at the beginning of the season would just be the start of it. If they end up winning a national championship for the second time in three years, that would end any claim the SEC has over the Big Ten. Ohio State has been the dominant program in the Big Ten over the last decade or so.
Having the most dominant program in the Big Ten win another national championship would show the strength of the conference as a whole. It's time that SEC fans give up the jig and just accept that the Big Ten is the more dominant conference. The Buckeyes don't care, though. They just want to be the best team, period.
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