Greg Sankey can stand up there and say the SEC is the best "by far" all he wants, but the scoreboard dont lie. Three straight national titles for the Big Ten. Four straight head to head wins in the playoff against SEC teams. I watched the 1994 Rose Bowl when we took down UCLA and thought that was the peak of the conference, but look at us now. We have become the standard and Sankey is just mad because his leaguue has been living off reputation from the 2010s instead of actual results. You cannot claim to be the best conference when you keep losing the biggest games.
What gets me is how everyone just accepts this SEC propaganda year after year. I remember when the Big Ten was considered a plodding, slow conference that could not compete with the speed of the SEC. I remember hearing that nonsense in the 90s when we were running the ball down peoples throats and winning Rose Bowls. Now the narrative has flipped completely and Sankey still acts like nothing changed. The man is living in the past while the Big Ten is winning actual championships.
And let me tell you something about our program specifically. We are heading into South Bend this fall for the first time in decades and nobody wants to talk about it. CBS put out their five Big Ten games that will shape the playoff race and we are not even mentioned. Not mentioned. Back in the 90s when we were grinding out wins under Coach Alvarez, people respected what we built. We were feared. Now we are an afterthought in our own conference's media coverage.
But you know what? That is exactly how we want it. The 1993 team was picked to finish in the bottom half of the Big Ten and we went to the Rose Bowl. The 1998 team had nobody believing and we won the Rose Bowl again. I would rather have this team overlooked and hungry than get all the preseason hype and fall flat. Let them talk about Ohio State and Oregon and Michigan. We will be ready when the leaves start turning in South Bend.
The portal and NIL have changed everything about how you build a roster, but some things never change. You still need linemen who can move people. You still need a running back who gets tougher as the game goes on. You still need a defense that makes the other team earn every yard. We have those things this year. I have been watching this program since the late 70s and I know what a real Badger team looks like. This one has that feel.
Sankey can keep talking. The SEC can keep making excuses. We will be in South Bend on that Thursday afternoon and we will remind everyone what Big Ten football looks like.