The new Big Ten football schedule is superior to SEC in every way

The new Big Ten football schedule format was released on Thursday and it’s superior to the SEC’s 8-game format. 

When you are comparing the new Big Ten football schedule format to the SEC, well, there isn’t much of a comparison.

One league actually thought critically about what’s important to fans and teams. The other gave its conference the easiest path possible to postseason play.

That’s fine. But to act like the SEC was trying to protect rivalries by playing eight conference games (without divisions) instead of nine is preposterous. It’s a laughable excuse and goes beyond common sense.

The Big Ten football schedule doesn’t just feature nine games, but every Big Ten football team will play each other in the next two years, something the SEC also can’t figure out. Georgia and Texas A&M have played once since the Aggies joined the SEC and the Bulldogs have never played at College Station.

The Big Ten football conference, which has just as much history, if not more than the SEC, protected 11 games, and in truth, only nine needed that protection.

In the SEC, they are making their rivalries way overblown. Here are the games that need to be protected: Alabama-Auburn, Alabama-Tennessee, Georgia-Auburn, Florida-Georgia, Tennessee-Vanderbilt, Mississippi-Mississippi State, Texas-Texas A&M, and Texas-Oklahoma.

Some of those aren’t even needed. South Carolina for instance, doesn’t have a single SEC game that needs to be protected. Florida-Tennessee, Alabama-LSU — these don’t need to be protected any more than Michigan vs Penn State or Ohio State vs Penn State, which weren’t protected games in the new Big Ten football schedule format.

If the SEC cared about more “rivals” playing each other, a ninth conference game could not hurt in any way, shape, or form. What’s true is the SEC doesn’t think the committee will care about the strength of the schedule, so instead of playing nine games, the league will continue to schedule FCS non-conference opponents, including some in November.

Beyond that, every Big Ten football team will play each other in 2024 and 2025. That won’t happen in the SEC, which frankly doesn’t seem to care about teams from the conference playing other teams from the conference in the regular season.

It’s very weird. At some point, the SEC will move to a nine-game schedule. It’s shameful not to at this point. Every league should be required to play nine games and also, we should axe conference title games.

They aren’t useful in the team 12-team playoff era. Does it really make sense to have Michigan and Ohio State play two weeks in a row? It would ruin it.

Outside of that quirk, which could exist in the SEC too if Auburn ever gets good again, the Big Ten football schedule seems like it was put together by people who were actually thinking, instead of a group of people trying to make the easiest schedule possible, without saying publicly that they made the easiest schedule possible.

The difference is plain as day and Big Ten football fans, as well as college football fans in general, will be better off because of it.