CHICAGO — Seven months removed from raising Indiana‘s first football national championship trophy, Hoosiers coach Curt Cignetti strutted to the lectern Thursday — with that same trophy just to his right — and confidently delivered the strongest remark on the SEC-Big Ten debate yet.
“The Big Ten is the best league in football,” Cignetti said at Big Ten media days. “We don’t run a hype machine up here in the Midwest. We believe everything’s earned, not given. And when we fall short, we say we fell short. We don’t cry a river, whine and complain. And that’s why we’re the best.”
Cignetti, who led the Hoosiers to an unprecedented 16-0 season and one of the most remarkable program turnarounds in recent history, has never shied away from speaking his mind. His comment was not a response to a question about the SEC specifically, but rather about the grind the Big Ten schedule and caliber of teams provide.
“It’s hard to win on the road. Very physical football teams, very well-coached. It definitely prepares you for the playoff,” Cignetti said. “No doubt about it, the numbers speak for themselves.”
All week, coaches have been asked about the battle for supremacy that the SEC and Big Ten are not-so-subtly engaged in. On Tuesday, Big Ten commissioner Tony Pettiti touted the conference’s 11 wins by seven different teams in the 12-team CFP era over the past two years and made sure to reference that that is “more than double the next best league” — which so happens to be the SEC.
Added Illinois coach Bret Bielema: “They [the SEC] want to live in 2005 forever.”
Cignetti, for his part, came to the argument prepared with numbers and statistics. He cited the conference’s 11-5 record in bowl games compared with the SEC’s 4-10 mark, the Big Ten’s 8-2 record against the SEC in head-to-head games, and the three straight national championships won by the Big Ten.
“Missouri and Tennessee didn’t beat a team with a winning record. South Carolina? Look at the numbers: Big Ten, SEC,” Cignetti told ESPN. “Every number that means anything is at least 2-to-1 in favor of the Big Ten world. … Numbers don’t lie. And you know what? People know.”
Earlier this month, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey touted the league’s move to nine conference games, which the Big Ten began implementing 10 years ago.
“When you look at our schedule, no one has created the kind of weekly competition that exists in the Southeastern Conference,” Sankey said. “It’s competition that our fans will experience every week because we believe we’re the best conference in college football.”
Both the Big Ten and SEC have spent ample time delivering talking points about conference supremacy over this last month, but soon after his confident comments, Cignetti was quick to revert back to the reality that, once games begin, the posturing will recede and the results will once again take center stage.
“There’s a lot of other stuff out there — smoke and mirrors,” Cignetti said. “We let our actions speak for us.”
ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg contributed to this report.
