Analyst sends grim message on the SEC if Texas loses to Ohio State

Texas losing to Ohio State would give the SEC a damning narrative hit
Texas losing to Ohio State would give the SEC a damning narrative hit | Brett Davis-Imagn Images

Texas has the SEC's whole world in its hands. If the Longhorns lose to Ohio State in the College Football Playoff's Cotton Bowl semifinal, The Oklahoman's Joe Mussatto believes the Big Ten could stake its claim to calling itself the country's best conference.

"Big Ten loyalists, though, would point to the conference’s 4-1 bowl record against the SEC. Ohio State beat Tennessee in the first round of the playoffs. USC beat Texas A&M in the Las Vegas Bowl. Michigan beat Alabama in the ReliaQuest Bowl. And Illinois beat South Carolina in the Citrus Bowl. If not for Missouri, which beat Iowa in the Music City Bowl, the SEC would have gone 0-for against the Big Ten in bowl games," Mussatto wrote.

"Maybe that means something. 

"But aside from Ohio State’s demolition of Tennessee — which meant everything — are we to take anything away from these lesser bowl results? 

"They’re exhibition games in sunny locales where the stakes are low and we can’t figure out who’s playing and who’s not. 

"But the Big Ten besting the SEC in the College Football Playoffs two years running? Now that’s significant. Barring the SEC saving face with Texas winning the national championship, the Big Ten can put together a compelling case that it’s the best conference in America."

Of course, many SEC fanbases don't care if the conference isn't seen as the best. Oklahoma and Texas A&M fans aren't cheering for Texas against Ohio State. Auburn fans haven't been happy about Georgia and Alabama's dominance over the years. The latter's happening exclusively under Nick Saban, of course.

"It Just Means More" means cheering against your rivals over anything. Even if it means a Midwest-based conference can then claim supremacy.

With that said, it's jarring that the SEC could lose the narrative to the B1G in short order. For most of the four-team College Football Playoff era, it was the ACC, via Clemson, that was winning the championships SEC teams weren't.

In the NIL era, though, Big Ten schools are not afraid to spend. And that's the biggest difference-maker of any for why the B1G could become the preeminent football conference.