Most of the SEC didn't get their return on rev-share investments over the past two seasons. "Pay-to-play" has been a boon for the Big Ten, which has won the last two College Football Playoff titles and has two teams remaining in this year's field.
For the "It Just Means More" conference, though, it has evened the playing field in a way the SEC's elite isn't keeping up with.
ESPN LA's Su'a Cravens, who played for the USC Trojans, owners of the No. 1 recruiting class in 2026, celebrated the sport's massive changes and rubbed it in the SEC's faces. Cravens did claim that five SEC schools would be able to compete "year in and year out," though:
The Georgia Bulldogs, Texas A&M Aggies, LSU Tigers, Ole Miss Rebels, and Alabama Crimson Tide.
Cravens blamed it on NIL payments, which are a component of roster-building, but are not direct payments from schools; instead, they come from a third party.
"I absolutely love the correlation between NIL and the immediate parity in CFB! It’s hilarious to see the very theory we all knew was true come to fruition. The moment everybody could pay to play, the SEC’s dominance evaporated. And that doesn’t mean the SEC won’t have good teams, I never said that. I expect UGA, A&M, LSU, Ole Miss, and Bama to be able to compete year in and year out. But being able to compete vs juggernaut dynasties are a VAST DIFFERENCE to what the SEC is accustomed too… It’s almost like once the monopoly vanished, so did the chokehold on college football! I LOVE IT!! Justice has been served," Cravens said.
Ole Miss, Alabama not guaranteed to be relevant in rev-share/NIL era
Truth be told, Ole Miss and Alabama's inclusion here may be faulty. Those two programs are not flush with the kind of super-donor alums that the B1G has, and lacks the oil money that Texas A&M and the Texas Longhorns have.
Speaking of which, where is Texas on Cravens' radar? If there' a school that could compete when big money is being thrown around, it's the Longhorns.
In the ever-competitive SEC, teams will shuffle in and out of relevance. Kirby Smart is likely to keep the Dawgs in the hunt, while Lane Kiffin will surely keep program-building his way deep into the CFP.
Other than those two, there are no guarantees for teams in that conference to be competitive year in and year out.
Which may have been the point of rev-share and NIL all along.