Auburn football: Ranking the other Power Five conferences behind the SEC

Let’s just get this out of the way, Auburn football fans: the SEC is the reason for the season year in and year out in college football.

Saturdays down south just hit differently. The rivalries mean more–and tend to have better names to boot–and the National Champions typically tend to reside in the southeast. Alabama has been the torch-bearer for the sport, but LSU and Auburn football has nabbed titles as well since the beginning of the last decade, which some still see as the decade we’re in with the way the 2020s have been whimpering instead of roarin’.

Even still, despite not winning a championship since Rupert Holmes was, um being a dog, in the story of his top hit “Escape (The Piña Colada Song)”, Georgia has been near the top of the standings for the better part of the last half-decade themselves.

This is all to say that not a single conference in college football can claim to even be in the same stratosphere as the SEC. Especially with Oklahoma and Texas on the way.

No other conference could have pulled this coup, just so we’re clear.

With Auburn football aiming to get back into the mix as a top team with new head coach Bryan Harsin steering the ship in uncharted territory for him, the SEC reigns supreme for a multitude of different reasons.

But here’s how we see the rest of college football shapes out:

The Big Ten is the second college football predator

With the SEC having successfully raided the Big 12 and taken its identity, the Big Ten is seen as the next potential predator in the Power 5. Tom Fornelli of CBS Sports believes they could be the next conference to welcome teams into its ranks:

"I hope that the Big Ten at least approached Oklahoma and Texas to see if there was any interest in joining forces, even if it was a fruitless pursuit. Since we know that isn’t happening, the most logical move for the Big Ten would be to see if any remaining Big 12 teams are worth adding to the fold. Iowa State and Kansas make the most sense from a cultural and geographical point of view. Both are AAU members, which is important to the Big Ten. Also, while Kansas football is the butt of many jokes, so was Rutgers when the Big Ten added it."

Iowa State would be an intriguing addition to the Big Ten, with a built-in conference feud with Iowa waiting. Kansas’ basketball contributions would be invaluable. 

The Big Ten–mostly by way of Ohio State’s dominance and, to a lesser degree, Wisconsin’s–has remained the next most relevant conference. That’s because teams like Iowa, Penn State, and (sometimes) Michigan challenge the red jersey-wearing beasts of the Big Ten, and the Big Ten’s geography puts it in position to swoop in on the current Big 12 chaos.