Paul Finebaum: ‘The Big Ten absolutely sucks at football this year’
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In January, after a Big Ten team won the national championship for a third consecutive season, Paul Finebaum said that the SEC was in “a real crisis,” as the Big Ten had overtaken the SEC as the top conference in college football. Less than a month into this college football season, Finebaum changed his mind.
Despite three consecutive national titles, it is fair to say that the Big Ten has not gotten off to a particularly strong start to the season.
Rutgers opened Week 1 with a stunning 37-21 loss to UMass before losing again last week to Boston College. Oregon faced a scare against Boise State before losing 39-31 against Oklahoma State the following week; Wisconsin was blown out 41-13 by No. 4 Notre Dame, and No. 16 Michigan needed a controversial late-game touchdown to beat Western Michigan. Against the SEC directly, Ohio State blew a 20-point fourth-quarter lead to lose 24-23 to Texas, while Mississippi State blasted Minnesota 38-13.
The only team to notch a high-profile victory through the first two weeks of the season was Michigan, beating Oklahoma, 17-10.
During Saturday’s edition of SEC Nation from Auburn, Alabama, Finebaum had some strong words for the Big Ten – and for Oklahoma after losing to Michigan.
.@finebaum with a word to the Big Ten
— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) September 19, 2026
“I am so boiling here for something that happened last Saturday in Ann Arbor,” Finebaum said. “Oklahoma, you let everyone down, and I’ll tell you why. The Big Ten absolutely sucks at football this year. They are horrible.”
Finebaum was quick to acknowledge that he’s now singing a very different tune about the SEC and the Big Ten than he was over the past several months. But he seems to think his previous comments were a mistake. Tim Tebow could only listen with his head in his hands.
“I spent the whole offseason embarrassing myself, saying, ‘The Big Ten’s the best conference,’ and they go out there and lay an egg,” Finebaum said. “If Oklahoma had done what they should have done, we would be dancing on the Big Ten’s grave. You screwed up, Oklahoma! I’m mad!”
“I don’t even know how to respond,” Tebow said, before Finebaum endeared himself to the Auburn crowd. “One more thing,” he said. “Give Auburn that game back that they won last year in Norman, because they stole the game from Auburn!”
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