Indiana coach Curt Cignetti likes to poke the SEC.
A year ago the former Alabama assistant coach mocked their eight-game conference schedule. The SEC changed that a month later.
With a 38-3 win Indiana over Alabama at the Rose Bowl and a third straight Big Ten national title since that comment, this year Cignetti has the bully pulpit.
He targeted what has at times seemed like incessant yapping by leaders from the SEC. Cignetti slipped in his latest jab from the podium at Big Ten media day in Chicago on Thursday.
“The Big Ten is the best league in football, and a lot of really good football teams, it’s hard to win on the road, very physical football teams, very well-coached,” he said. “It definitely prepares you for the playoffs. There’s no doubt about it, the numbers speak for themselves. We don’t run a hype machine up here in the Midwest.”
Cignetti’s remark was in response to a question — whether the grind of the Big Ten schedule prepares teams for the postseason.
He knew what was really being asked.
“I think that’s a loaded question,” he began in response.
But the hype machine in the South had Cignetti riled up.
At his own media day this month, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey touted the league’s move to nine conference games this year, without mentioning it came 10 years after the Big Ten went to nine.
“When you look at our schedule, no one has created the kind of weekly competition that exists in the Southeastern Conference,” Sankey said. “It’s competition that our fans will experience every week because we believe we’re the best conference in college football.”
But the numbers support Cignetti at the moment.
The three straight national titles headline the argument in favor of the Big Ten.
But there’s more.
Earlier this week Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti noted the conference’s 11 wins by seven different teams in the 12-team CFP era over the past two years, noting that is “more than double the next best league.”
Last season, the Big Ten went 11-5 in bowl games while SEC went 4-10. The Big Ten is 8-2 in bowl games against the SEC during the 12-team CFP era.
Those are fairly convincing numbers.
The rest is just Southern talk.
“We believe everything is earned, not given,” Cignetti said. “When we fall short, we say: We fell short. We don’t cry a river, whine and complain. That’s why we’re the best.”
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