SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey is pretty darn happy with the current alignment of college football after his conference added national powerhouses Oklahoma and Texas.
These two moves created a trickle-down effect in which super conferences are being built around the nation. None of them are going to compete with the SEC. At the very least, that’s the common belief.
On the very same day that the ACC announced it has accepted the University of California-Berkeley, Stanford Cardinal and Southern Methodist Mustangs into its conference, Sankey took time out of his day to blast his counterparts.
“Think about this. We added two universities, Oklahoma and Texas. The Big 12 now I guess is positioned, they had to add eight … The Big Ten’s added four, the ACC’s added three, and the humble Southeastern Conference will be at 16,” SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey on college football conference realignment.
Humble is an interesting term to use in this context. Each of the past four and 13 of the previous 17 college football national champions have come from the SEC. During that very same span, the ACC has seen three teams win titles (Clemson 2017, 2018 and Florida State 2013). The Big 10 has one title (Ohio State 2014). Meanwhile, what is now the Pac-2 has no titles during that span.
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What the CAL and Stanford moves to the ACC mean
They aren’t game changers from a national perspective. CAL has not played in a major bowl game since all the way back in 1958. Once one of the top contenders in the Pac-12, Stanford has posted a 14-28 record over the past four seasons.
More so than the Pac-12 potentially going defunct with all of the major departures, these two moves will likely lead to even more realignment moving forward. That could include both Clemson and Florida State making their way to the SEC.
Meanwhile, the Big 10 is set to add former Pac-12 foes USC, UCLA, Oregon and Washington to the mix. As for the Big 12, Utah, Arizona State and Arizona are set to join the conference. In no way does that make up for the loss of Texas and Oklahoma — two teams that represent one of the biggest college football rivalries in that of the “Red River Shootout.”
All of this is a long-form way of saying that Greg Sankey is happy about the trajectory of the SEC. He’s letting us all know about it, too.