Days after Pat Narduzzi took shots at the Big Ten for being inferior to the ACC, an SEC joined the fun.
Missouri head coach Eli Drinkwitz spoke at the SEC Football Kickoff Media Days on Monday and was asked why he believed that the Big Ten had won three straight national titles.
His answer didn’t make a whole lot of sense.
Drinkwitz actually said that part of the reason that the Big Ten has won the past three national titles (Michigan, Ohio State, Indiana) was because the conference doesn’t play non-conference “A4” — or Power Four — games, according to Brett McMurphy.
Missouri's Eli Drinkwitz said part of reason B1G has won last 3 national titles: "When you don't play a (non-conference) A4 game"
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) July 20, 2026
Well, that’s just objectively false. The Big Ten played several major Power Four non-conference games last season, including Ohio State and Texas facing each other. Michigan took on Oklahoma, Wisconsin faced Alabama, Illinois took on eventual ACC champion Duke, and Nebraska faced Cincinnati. Heck, even Michigan State took on Boston College in non-conference play.
And even this season, Michigan State will play Notre Dame (yes, I’m aware Notre Dame is Independent, but it’s still viewed as A4) and so will Wisconsin, Illinois will take on the defending ACC champs again, Maryland faces Virginia Tech, UCLA will take on Cal, Texas and Ohio State will play again, and so will Michigan and Oklahoma.
Those all sound like non-conference Power Four games.
Unless this is a shot solely at Indiana, Drinkwitz criticism about non-conference schedules doesn’t make a ton of sense, especially considering the SEC had been scheduling late-November cupcakes for years.
Strengths of schedule also work in the Big Ten’s favor
I’m not sure why the Big Ten has become the punching bag of the rest of the Power Four during media days so far, but it probably has something to do with all of the recent success. This is probably how the SEC felt for years when it was winning title after title.
According to ESPN’s FPI, the strengths of schedule last season also tended to favor the Big Ten at the top along with the SEC.
Wisconsin had the toughest schedule in the country, Purdue was fourth, UCLA was fifth, and Oregon was sixth. The second and third-toughest schedules were Alabama and Florida, respectively, so the SEC is still up there, but knocking the Big Ten when the strengths of schedule are this heavily in favor of it at the top is hilarious.
As for Indiana, who may have been the target of his weak schedule jab, had the 10th-hardest schedule in college football last season, per the FPI.
There were 11 Big Ten teams in the top 25 of strength of schedule rankings in 2025 and 12 were from the SEC. I don’t think the SEC should have much of a gripe with the Big Ten’s scheduling. They’re pretty much dead even. Forget the non-conference schedules (most contenders schedule weaker slates), the Big Ten is every bit as tested as the SEC when they get to the College Football Playoff.
Michigan State consistently schedules A4 games
For as long as I can remember, Michigan State has done a good job of scheduling non-conference A4 games. Here’s just the history since Mark Dantonio was hired:
2007: Pitt, Notre Dame
2008: Cal, Notre Dame
2009: Notre Dame
2010: Notre Dame
2011: Notre Dame
2012: Notre Dame
2013: Notre Dame
2014: Oregon
2015: Oregon
2016: Notre Dame
2017: Notre Dame
2018: Arizona State
2019: Arizona State
2020: COVID
2021: Miami
2022: Washington
2023: Washington
2024: Boston College
2025: Boston College
2026: Notre Dame
And how about the next few years?
2027: Notre Dame
2028: Oklahoma State
2029: Oklahoma State
2030: Cincinnati
2031: Cincinnati
2032: BYU
Yeah, I don’t think Michigan State can ever be accused of not scheduling Power Four non-conference opponents.
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