With the topic of comparing college football conferences to one another continuing to heat up, a recent tweet from the Action Network’s Brett McMurphy gave the Big 12 a key win over the SEC, Big Ten, and ACC.
According to McMurphy’s tweet, the Big 12 Conference members will play the most power conference opponents of any league in the country in 2024.
Conference members are set to play 10.25 power conference opponents in 2024, while the Big Ten plays 10, the ACC plays 9.59, and the SEC plays 9.25 on average.
The conversation has made its rounds among media members, athletes from different programs, and even coaches like TCU’s Sonny Dykes, who recently called out the SEC for scheduling “layup games” in Week 10.
Dykes spoke about the SEC’s continual “layup games” approach to the regular season, saying, “A layup is a really important thing in college football. That’s why the SEC, I don’t know if it’s the most competitive thing, but I tell you what, it’s the smartest thing. Because they play those layups in Week 10.”
In 2023, some of the best teams in the league played a Week 10 slate that included Chattanooga, LA-Monroe, Georgia State, and Abilene Christian. SEC teams won by a grand total of 195-37 in those games.
While the SEC is unanimously believed to be the nation’s premier college football conference, the league is flying an entire game behind the Big 12 in total power conference opponents each season. It also generates criticism over the eight-week conference schedule rather than playing nine games like most Power Conferences.
Regardless, the disparity in power opponent matchups will likely get swept under the rug, similar to that of many other crucial stats that highlight the Big 12 in an effort to keep the SEC above the rest of its class.
