What is it about Media Days and opposing coaches taking potshots at the Big Ten? Last week, it was Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi who pretended that the ACC has a ton of success against the B1G, even though Nebraska actually has a winning record against those teams. On Monday, it was Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz who tried to minimize the Big Ten's success, especially when it comes to winning the national title.
Michigan, Ohio State and Indiana have won the last three national titles in college football, and with Indiana and Ohio State reloading and Oregon looming, it’s hardly far-fetched to think the conference could make it four in a row. So what does Drinkwitz believe is behind the recent run of titles?
Drinkwitz believes the Big Ten has been so successful in the postseason because it doesn’t play a tough non-conference slate. “When you don’t play a (non-conference) A4 game,” Drinkwitz said when asked what he thought the secret is.
Make no mistake, the Big Ten teams tend to have several cupcake non-conference games on their schedule every year. This season, Nebraska will face off against Ohio, Bowling Green and North Dakota. Sure, none of those teams will scare anyone in a Power 4 conference. But is the Huskers’ Week 3 opponent a sign that the Cornhuskers are headed for a national title? Of course not.
Eli Drinkwitz blames Big Ten nonconference schedules for national title run
It’s also beyond laughable that a coach from the SEC, the conference that until this year made a habit of just about every squad scheduling an FCS team near the end of the season. This practice was very obviously all about allowing the teams to rest their players and get ready for the final weeks of the regular season, and, should they get there, the playoffs.
While Missouri didn’t usually do that, it’s not as though their 2025 non-conference schedule of Central Arkansas, Kansas and Louisiana was a murderer’s row. This year it’s Arkansas Pine-Bluff, Kansas and Troy. Also, not a “difficult” schedule. The only reason Kansas is on there is because of the long-running Big 12 rivalry.
Nebraska and other Big Ten teams have all but admitted that the easier non-conference schedule is because the conference is plenty tough. It’s why USC ended one of the most historical rivalries in college football in order to play San Jose State. Drinkwitz would have a point if he were talking about getting to the College Football Playoff. But once Big Ten teams get there, they aren’t playing FCS squads.
Indiana won the title last year by beating Alabama 38-3, Oregon 56-22 and Miami 27-21 in the championship game. This was all after they beat Ohio State in the Big Ten title game, which earned them a first-round bye.
In 2024, Ohio State beat Tennessee, Oregon, Texas and Notre Dame to win the title. The Buckeyes went 2-0 in the College Football Playoff against the SEC. They didn’t do that because their first three games of the season, months earlier, were easy.
There are reasons for opposing coaches to see the Big Ten as villains. Conference commissioner Tony Pettiti isn’t winning friends this summer. But between Narduzzi’s comments about the conference and now Drinkwitz coming up with a cockamamie reason why the B1G has a stranglehold on the national title, Big Ten, even Nebraska fans are pointing and laughing an awful lot of late.
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