The SEC and the Big Ten are likely to break away from the rest of college football at some point in the future according to CBS Sports' Dennis Dodd -- who stressed the importance of a win like NIU's over Notre Dame, 16-14, in Week 2.
"In these tenuous times when it seems like the Big Ten and SEC are going to separate from the rest of FBS like kings dismissing jesters from the royal court, we needed Saturday," Dodd prefaced before saying, "We needed it to remind us why we love college football in the first place. Its unpredictability. The absurd, unlikely upsets. It was refreshing to watch a school with the 143rd largest athletic department (Northern Illinois) beat a school with more money than God. OK, maybe not. But considering its Catholic underpinnings, Notre Dame has the ability to know for sure.
"But if the winds continue to blow as they have, these wonderful upsets will become more rare than table manners in a frat house. If the FBS subdivides where only the power schools play, there is less need for them to play the rest of the Group of Five and the FCS."
SEC struggling in conference play through Week 2 but dominating AP Top 25
The SEC has taken losses to the Big 12 (Arkansas to Oklahoma State, Mississippi State to ASU), the ACC (Auburn to Cal, Florida to Miami), and the Big Ten (LSU to USC) thus far through Week 2 of the 2024 season. Several SEC teams are already in panic mode.
But the SEC is still the class of college football. Georgia, Texas, Alabama, and Ole Miss are in the top five of the AP Poll. Missouri and Tennessee are also in the top seven.
All roads to college football glory run through the "It Just Means More" conference right now. Don't be surprised to see at least half of the first 12-team College Football Playoff field come from the SEC.