Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti absolutely destroyed the SEC at Big Ten Media Days on Thursday, and it was glorious to watch. And he’s speaking up on behalf of not just the Big Ten, but also, then Big 12 and the ACC. And the reality is, there are only a couple of coaches who can say what Cignetti said on Thursday.
The head coach went off on the SEC, saying, “The Big Ten is the best league in football… We don’t run a hype machine up here in the Midwest. We believe everything’s earned, not given. And when we fall short, we say, ‘We fell short.’ We don’t cry a river and whine and complain. And that’s why we’re the best.”
Inject that into my veins.
If you want the video to watch for yourself, here you go.
The Big 12 Can’t Do This Yet
The Big 12 coaches can talk all the smack they want, but the Big Ten has won three-straight National Championships, with Cignetti being the most recent, which included a 38-3 win over Alabama in the Rose Bowl during the CFP.
The Big 12 coaches don’t have the juice to go as far as Cignetti did. Now, the Big 12 can do what Joey McGuire did this off-season, call out the SEC for claiming to be the best conference this side of the NFL, but then seemingly being afraid to cancel any non-SEC Power 4 games. The Big 12 has also had some future games vs. the SEC canceled this offseason. But the Big 12 will still come off like the little kid in the schoolyard saying, “Hey, let me at him!”
Not the Big Ten. The Big Ten has won three straight national titles. The SEC has not appeared in a national championship game since Georgia vs TCU. So the Big Ten has the swagger, the league should use it, and the Big 12 should be cheering it on the entire way.
