GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
DESTIN, Florida – The Big Ten has won the last two national championships in college football with Ohio State and Michigan the last two seasons, and that needs to change, LSU coach Brian Kelly told reporters at the Southeastern Conference Spring Meetings Wednesday afternoon.
“We want to play them in the regular season. We want to compete against the Big Ten,” Kelly said after leaving a meeting at at the Hilton’s Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort.
“Look, the Big Ten right now holds it on the SEC,” said Kelly, who regularly went against Big Ten teams as Notre Dame’s coach from 2010-21. “They won the last two national championships, OK. That’s the reality of it. We want to get challenged in that regard. We’d like to be able to get that done.”
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Kelly said his fellow SEC coaches want an addition of one Big Ten school per SEC schedule in the regular season. A SEC-Big Ten alliance for football scheduling has been discussed for months by the two super leagues, but Kelly is the first SEC coach to embrace it so strongly and say that all, or most, SEC coaches are behind it.
“We want to cross over and play Big Ten schools,” he said. “I don’t think you have anybody in our room that is not willing to play more SEC games (from eight to nine) and cross over and play the Big Ten. Look, our first goal would be wanting to play the Big Ten as coaches. I can speak for the room. We want to play Big Ten schools. But you’ve got to get a partner (from the Big Ten), who says we’re in for that, too.”
SEC commissioner Greg Sankey doesn’t agree. He said what is on the table for discussion is either nine SEC games and no Big Ten games in a regular season, or eight SEC games and one Big Ten game. But that’s the problem with these meetings. Often the SEC players are not on the same page.
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“We’ve made our voice clear,” Kelly went on. “Our athletic directors know we would like that (playing Big Ten teams). Our commissioner obviously heard us as well. The rest will be up to what gets negotiated. There are other pieces that are involved in this, and we’ll see what happens. We’d like to be able to get that done. That is up to our commissioner and the ADs to see if that can happen or not. That’s the wish of the room.”
With opportunities for the SEC to play Big Ten teams in the 12-team playoff and future 14- or 16-formats, Kelly was asked, “Why play the Big Ten in the regular season.”
“Because they won the last two national championships,” he repeated. “I mean, we want to show that we have the depth in this league from top to bottom, and that we are the premier league in the country.”
But that could be done in the playoffs alone.
“You can do it in the playoffs, too, absolutely, no doubt,” he said. “But you can also show your self during the regular season in this opportunity as well.”
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