Bruce Pearl isn’t just happy to talk up the SEC when it comes to basketball, but the Auburn hoops coach is also sure to stay in the conference’s corner when it comes to football.

And with some analysts eager to bad mouth the SEC after its performance in the College Football Playoff, he took a chance to defend the conference while taking a jab at the Big Ten.

“Top to bottom, Big Ten football is not as strong as the SEC,” Pearl said on the Gary Parrish Show.

“Go to Mississippi State when they’re having a bad year, and half your kids are in the hospital when you leave the game. It is every single night. I thought our SEC football teams were exhausted.”

Pearl believes the quality of competition in the Big Ten, or lack thereof compared to the SEC, enabled teams like Ohio State and Penn State to get into the playoff on a weaker schedule.

“Now you’re at Ohio State or you’re at Penn State, two teams that got deep into the playoffs, they only had two or three games on the entire schedule that were like about seven or eight games for Ole Miss or Alabama or Auburn, or any of the SEC teams,” he said.

“And I think those football guys were exhausted.”

Exhausted or not, the Big Ten had the last laugh the last two seasons on the football field.

Michigan won the national title in 2023 and Ohio State lifted the trophy in the historic first 12-team field in 2024.

And the Buckeyes beat two SEC teams along the way, trouncing Tennessee in the first round game and edging out Texas in the semifinal round.

In addition to the Buckeyes, the Big Ten also got Penn State and Oregon in the top-five of the final AP top 25 football rankings this past season.

Pearl believes those teams simply have an easier time getting into the playoff thanks to schedules that aren’t as rigorous as the SEC, and the same is true in basketball.

“Memphis and Gonzaga, those two teams, are sort of putting up with their conferences [through] January, February, and all they’re thinking about is March. They’re so excited,” Pearl said.

“By the time they get to March, and they’re playing against great teams they’ve been watching on TV all year long with something to prove because nobody’s been talking about Memphis, and people are sick and tired of hearing about Auburn, Alabama, Florida, and all these great SEC teams. There’s something to that.”

While SEC teams may be “exhausted” by their daunting football and basketball schedules, it doesn’t appear that Pearl’s own team has paid too dear a price.

Auburn is 25-2 and the consensus No. 1 team in the country right now, and looking like the team to beat come March Madness time.

(Pearl)

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