Big Ten is king, and one coach says SEC wants 'to live in 2005 forever'
NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos...
It's officially talking season, with Big Ten Football Media Days kicking off on Tuesday, July 28, just days after SEC Football Kickoff Media Days concluded.
Amid the never-ending debate between the Big Ten and SEC, Illinois coach Bret Bielema landed the latest punch in the ongoing argument. Bielema, heading into his sixth season with the Fighting Illini, said July 28 that NIL and the transfer portal to the sport have allowed teams such as Illinois to enter the national conversation and even the playing field.
He followed it up with a joke about one of college football's premier conferences.
"They kind of want to live in 2005 forever."
Bielema was later asked for a follow-up.
"Well, I think I just made the headline, right?" he said. "… When (transfer portal and NIL) came into college football, the whole world changed. It's overly obvious to say that, but I think anything that predates that is just a different time in college football. It just is."
The Big Ten is coming off three consecutive national championships, which followed the SEC winning 13 of the 17 national titles before that. Bielema is also known for being a bit of an instigator, most recently taunting South Carolina coach Shane Beamer and calling out Michigan's sign-stealing scandal.
It's not the first time Bielema has brought up the Big Ten vs. SEC debate in the last week. After Nick Saban said the conference argument is defined by which team has more quality from top to bottom, Bielema reposted the clip with screenshots to X of Illinois' bowl wins over South Carolina and Tennessee the past two seasons.
Bielema has recent success against SEC teams, although he went 11-29 in the conference as Arkansas' head coach from 2013-17. He left Wisconsin, a Big Ten school, for the Razorbacks after three consecutive Rose Bowl appearances from 2010-12.
It's hard to argue against Bielema's thoughts on college football completely changing since then, though.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Big Ten is king, and one coach says SEC wants 'to live in 2005 forever'
More at NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos