Big Ten football took the SEC's power. Then, it broke its brain | Opinion

First, the Big Ten overthrew the SEC and seized the trophy. Then, the conference up North zapped the SEC’s collective mind. Now, some gold-medalist level mental gymnastics emanate from south of the Mason-Dixon to explain the Big Ten’s reign.

Kirby Smart says some SEC coaches have a theory on the Big Ten winning three consecutive national championships, and, boy, it's a doozy. Goes something like this: Arkansas is too good. Mississippi State, also too good.

That’s the theory, anyway, as Smart laid it out in a recent interview with “The Next Round” podcast . Exclusive: Why Kalen DeBoer embraced Alabama, ignored Michigan when U-M job came open SEC football: Brian Kelly says Lane Kiffin can do the one thing he couldn’t at LSU “This is the (theory) that nobody likes to hear, and a lot of SEC coaches are saying this in our meetings. They say, ‘They don’t have the grind that we do,'" Smart said, with the “they” in that sentence being the Big Ten.

"Three of (the Big Ten’s) nine games are hard, but their bottom four games are not our bottom four games. I’m going to play in Starkville and Vanderbilt in my bottom four, and I’m holding onto my butt. " Are you kidding me?