Kirby Smart: 'Every' NFL Coach Says SEC Is Better Than Big Ten

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Given how many NFL players his football program produces every year, Georgia head coach Kirby Smart meets with virtually every NFL head coach year-round. And amid the endless debate over conference supremacy between the SEC and the Big Ten, Smart is claiming victory for his own.

Appearing on The Stephen A. Smith Show, Smart said that “every NFL scout and every NFL coach” that he talks to tells him point-blank that the SEC is better than the Big Ten. He said that those scouts and coaches would never admit it, but he maintains that the SEC is “the toughest conference in college football.”

“Because I ask every NFL scout and every NFL coach which one produces better players, and it’s not close,” Smart said. “It’s not close when it comes down to it. Now on the field, go look at what they play and look at their schedules and go look at ours and see that they play. I got friends that coach in the Big Ten. They’ll tell you the difference between the SEC and the Big Ten. 

“They’ll never admit it openly, but they tell me that I have a lot of confidence in this league. And this league is is really tough and physical. Those teams have an opportunity to schedule games and play us just as well. And there’s been a couple matchups between those teams. They have done a phenomenal job winning those national championships, and I got nothing but respect for those programs. But I can promise you, this is the toughest conference in college football.”

The Big Debate

For most of the 2000s and 2010s plus the first few years of the 2020s, the SEC dominated college football, sending at least one and oftentimes two teams to college football’s national title game. The Big Ten and ACC won national titles with the likes of Ohio State, Clemson and Florida State, but the SEC was the big kahuna.

It was only very recently that the SEC started to give way. Since 2023, the Big Ten has enjoyed three straight national titles (Michigan, Ohio State and Indiana) while the SEC hasn’t even sent a team to the national title game in those three years.

Many have blamed the rise of NIL inducement, the transfer portal and the rapidly-changing college football landscape for this change, but it doesn’t change the fact that the Big Ten has been hoisting national titles for a while now.

The SEC still churns out NFL players like a factory though and many would argue that element is what separates the SEC from all other conferences.

This story was originally published by The Spun on Sep 3, 2026, where it first appeared in the College Football section. Add The Spun as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

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