Cam Newton felt like raining on the Indiana Hoosiers' parade on Friday, following their 38-3 win over the Alabama Crimson Tide on Thursday in the Rose Bowl, claiming that he still wouldn't watch IU over practically any program in the SEC.
Newton grouped the Hoosiers in with the Penn State Nittany Lions, Michigan State Spartans, and Iowa State Cyclones during a segment on ESPN's First Take that also featured Paul Finebaum and Ryan Clark.
"However great Coach Cignetti is, you still know, I'm not about to go watch Indiana football. I prefer to go watch LSU, Ole Miss, the great Auburn, Alabama, UGA, Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi State way before I watch a Penn State. Way before I watch a Michigan State, an Iowa State — man, come on now," Newton said.
Cam Newton towing ESPN company line with shameless SEC propaganda
Yeah, this is lame.
First of all, it feels like Newton was going after the Big Ten and mistakenly thought Iowa State was part of the B1G and not the Big 12. As if the non-SEC conferences aren't worth remembering.
Then, to boot, you have shameless promotion of schools like the Arkansas Razorbacks and Mississippi State Bulldogs, which have been irrelevant on a national scale since the rev-share era kicked into full gear. Labeling them the "great" Auburn Tigers feels like inviting all the trolls in the world, since not even on the Plains is AU considered "great" on the gridiron these days.
In a world of an overactive transfer portal that sees players jump into, and out of, the SEC, it's straight up ignorant to insult other programs and conferences for the level of competition. SEC players from the 2025 season are becoming Big Ten, Big 12, and Group of 5 players as we speak during the January window.
Of course, the ACC was conspicuous by its absence in the rant. Note: ESPN owns the ACC's media rights.
Newton is better than to feed the ESPN machine by attacking the conferences not under their umbrella. This was his worst showing in his second career in broadcasting yet.
It's good to know this probably wasn't his authentic take, because "Superman" almost certainly knows better than this.