The SEC is a field goal better than the Big Ten, top to bottom

When you argue about which conference is the best, you have to be clear about what you're actually asking. There's the deepest league, top to bottom, and then there's the league with the single scariest team. They aren't the same thing. Sort every conference by how good its teams really are once you account for who they played, and the SEC sits at the top. Across the league, the average SEC team outplayed its schedule by about 10 points a game in 2024. The Big Ten was right behind at about 8 points a game. Good, but a clear step back.