For the third consecutive season, a team from the Big Ten has been named the National Champion.

No. 1 seed Indiana capped off an undefeated 16-0 campaign with its 27-21 over No. 10 Miami Monday night in the College Football Playoff National Championship Game. The Hoosiers became the third consecutive Big Ten team to win the national title, joining Michigan (2023) and Ohio State (2024).

While the Big Ten enjoyed yet another champion, the SEC suffered yet another disappointing postseason.

SEC programs were just 4-8 in bowl games this season, with two of the four wins coming against fellow SEC teams. Texas‘ 41-27 win over Michigan, led by interim head coach Biff Poggi, in the Citrus Bowl was the lone bowl win for an SEC program over a Power-Four program in a bowl game.

The Big Ten, meanwhile, went 11-4 in bowl games, with just one of the 11 wins coming against fellow Big Ten teams. The conference was 3-1 against the SEC and 2-1 against the ACC. If it wasn’t obvious before, the Big Ten has cemented itself as the sports’ premier conference. During Tuesday’s edition of ‘The Matt Barrie Show‘, ESPN’s Paul Finebaum claimed there was ‘no way to sugar-coat the mess the SEC is in.’

Paul Finebaum says there is a ‘real crisis’ going on in SEC country

“Listen, everyone knows where I live and where I work. I kind of snicker sometimes when I hear the SEC fans trying to make a long version case out of this, but you can’t,” Finebaum said. “There is no way to sugar-coat the mess the SEC is currently in. It’s not as if there’s a team next year that’s going to pull you out of it. Who is it? Are you gonna trust Georgia? Are you going to put all of your chips back on Arch Manning and Texas? Probably, but that’s the problem.

“I try and keep it real in spite of what a few people around the country say, and if anyone thinks there are smiles and cheers going on in SEC country about the fact that this league has been dominant over the last 20 years, you’re wrong. That’s idle chatter. There’s a real crisis going on down here. Indiana winning just made it worse. Not only is it an improbable story in college sports or sports history, it’s going to change the dynamics. The paradigm shift is massive.

“If you’re a coach at Auburn or Florida or wherever, you can’t tell your legions of fans ‘hey listen, I inherited a mess. Give me four of five years.’ You don’t have that anymore because of what has happened this week.”

The SEC has not featured a team in the National Championship in three seasons, marking its longest absence in the history of the College Football Playoff. The conference desperately needs, at the minimum, a team in the National Championship Game next season in order to continue to proclaim itself the best conference in football.