Sean McDonough questions the Big Ten’s credibility as an elite conference and dismisses its perceived strength

With Indiana at the end of a beating that lasted most of the night in South Bend Notre DameESPN play-by-play announcer Sean McDonough didn’t do much to hide his feelings in the last few seconds. And he questioned whether the Hoosiers should have been in the College Football Playoff.

Indiana finished the regular season 11-1, but didn’t beat a team ranked No. 1 in the AP poll or CFP rankings, and made it to the top seed more or less comfortably – as most do by a team either the Big Ten or the SEC expected a single loss. But McDonough balks at this idea.

“I didn’t understand why Indiana wasn’t included in that conversation,” McDonough said of the bubble it more or less boiled down to Alabama And SMU. “I know they’re 11-1, but what does it say on their resume that they’ve clearly earned more than SMU or Alabama?”

His partner in the dressing room, color commentator Greg McElroysaid it was probably being in the Big Ten that gave the Hoosiers a boost. Indiana hasn’t played particularly difficult in the league, due in part to the expansion of the Big Ten and Michigan and Washington seeing significant declines after appearing in the national championship last season.

“I think it was the Big Ten. “I also think it had something to do with how convincing it looked, the ‘eye test’ and the quality of execution it had compared to the subpar competition,” McElroy said. “I think that had a lot to do with it. But I think people also looked at it and said, ‘They made a lot of self-inflicted mistakes against Ohio State.’ That’s why the game went haywire.’ Without actually looking at it and thinking, “The game probably could have been worse than it was if Ohio State had played a little better from scrimmage.”

McDonough then noted that the SEC and the Big Ten, especially the Big Ten, were better than the other leagues.

“I think they need to move away from the assumption that the SEC and the Big Ten are significantly superior to everyone else,” McDonough said. “Especially the Big Ten. I mean, the SEC has the most recent history: Alabama, Georgia. But since when, 2002, has the Big Ten won two national championships in college football?”

Since the 2000 season, three teams in the Big Ten have won national titles: Ohio State in 2002 and 2014 and Michigan in 2023. Both the Big Ten and SEC recently added teams that have also won national titles since the turn of the century.

“Of course, Ohio State won the first College Football Playoff at Michigan last year,” McDonough said. “But I just don’t understand why there is this assumption, as it seems to many, that the Big Ten in particular is so much better than the ACC or the Big 12. I’m not sure what that’s based on. There is a lot of talk about the strength of the schedule. Well, you play with each other. So if you just assume, “Our league is better than everyone else, therefore our schedule is tough.” What if your league isn’t better than everyone else? Is your schedule better than everyone else’s?”