Sean McDonough questions Big Ten’s credentials as elite conference, dismisses perceived strength

With Indiana on the receiving end of a beatdown for most of the night in South Bend against Notre Dame, ESPN play-by-play announcer Sean McDonough didn’t do much to hide his feelings in the dying seconds. And he questioned if the Hoosiers should’ve been included in the College Football Playoff field.

Indiana finished the regular season 11-1, but didn’t beat a team that finished ranked in the AP Poll or CFP rankings, and more or less comfortably made the field as an at-large — as most expected a one-loss team from either the Big Ten or SEC to do. But McDonough poked at that idea.

“I didn’t understand why Indiana wasn’t included in that conversation,” McDonough said of the bubble, that more or less boiled down to Alabama and SMU. “I know they’re 11-1 but what was it about their resume that said they were clearly more deserving than SMU or Alabama.” 

His partner in the booth, color commentator Greg McElroy, said it was likely being in the Big Ten that gave the Hoosiers a boost. Indiana did not play a particularly difficult league schedule, in part due to the expansion of the Big Ten and Michigan and Washington regressing notably 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 and the ‘eye test’ and the execution level that had against sub par competition,” McElroy said. “I think that had a lot to do with it. But I think people also looked at it said ‘They had a lot of self-inflicted mistakes against Ohio State. That’s why that game got sideways.’ Without really looking at it and thinking ‘That game probably could’ve been worse than it was, had Ohio State played a little better along the line of scrimmage.’”

McDonough then struck at the perception that the SEC and Big Ten, and particularly the Big Ten, are better than the other leagues.

“I think they need to lose the assumption the SEC and the Big Ten are clearly head and shoulders above everybody else,” McDonough said. “Particularly the Big Ten. I mean the SEC has the recent history: Alabama, Georgia. But the Big Ten’s won two national championship’s in college football since when, 2002?”

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

“Of course Ohio State won the first college football playoff, Michigan last year,” McDonough said. “But I just don’t understand why there’s this presumption, it seems for many, that the Big Ten in particular is so much better than the ACC or Big 12. Not sure what that’s based on. There’s a lot of talk about strength of schedule. Well you’re playing each other. So if you just assume, ‘Well our league’s better than everybody else, so therefore our schedule is tough.’ What if your league isn’t better than everybody else? Is your strength of schedule better than everybody else?”