Joel Klatt is a FOX Sports analyst, so his allegiance is specifically not with the SEC. More often than not, he's on Big Ten and Big 12 football fields. He was also a former Colorado Buffalo, and a native of the Centennial State.
He'll never argue on behalf of the "It Just Means More" conference. Klatt will revel in reminding folks that the conference has been meaning less as the Big Ten keeps winning titles, following a three-peat for the B1G with the Michigan Wolverines winning it all in 2023/2024, the Ohio State Buckeyes winning the first 12-team CFP in 2024/2025, and the Indiana Hoosiers running the table and bringing home the most recent title this past week.
He did exactly that during a recent edition of The Joel Klatt Show, giving the Alabama Crimson Tide grief for their close Rose Bowl loss to Michigan in 2024 and a not-so-close 38-3 thrashing at Indiana's hands a few weeks ago in this year's Rose Bowl, the Texas Longhorns the same for their Cotton Bowl Classic loss to Ohio State last year, and the Tennessee Volunteers the same for also losing to those Buckeyes in the first round.
“Since Georgia won their last title in 2022, the SEC is 2–7 in the College Football Playoff versus other Power Four teams. They are 0–4 against the Big Ten. At this point, this is not an opinion. The data is telling us something very clearly," Klatt said.
“The strength of college football in our country does not reside in the SEC. Those are the facts based on the data. Championships, drafts, postseason record. There’s nothing else we can go on.
“That’s a problem. Because it is clearly not the case that the strength resides in that conference. The data bears that out.
“I’m arguing against this narrative that the SEC is a gauntlet. That it has to be rewarded and given the benefit of the doubt. That narrative needs to die. It needs to die a quick death.
“The play on the field has been very clearly shifting for a long time. The Big Ten is better at the top than the SEC. That’s not just me saying that. That’s what the records tell us. That’s what the scoreboards tell us.
“The Big Ten has dominated when it’s mattered. They’re 4–0 in the playoff over the last three seasons.”
Alabama represents the fall of SEC dominance
Let's talk about why the narrative is this way: Alabama is losing, and they're making the conference's fall hurt for the SEC more by losing big. Granted, their last two CFP losses were to the eventual champion, and Nick Saban went out on his shield with an OT loss two years ago.
Those Texas and Tennessee runs were deeply appreciated in the Lone Star State and Volunteer State, respectively, while the Tide's fanbase hasn't appreciated a CFP run since the pandemic-altered 2020/2021 season, the last time Tuscaloosa was "Titletown," though.
Kalen DeBoer has helped a conference he found a bad fit in lose its reputation of dominance. UGA's Kirby Smart is equally to blame, with the Dawgs no longer running the show with rev-share payments in full effect and the University of Georgia coming nowhere close to the B1G's powerhouses and the richest schools in the Lone Star State.
This is mostly Bama's fault, though.