How Much Will Indiana and the Big Ten Be Discussed at SEC Media Days?

Whether anyone in Tampa wants to admit it, Indiana and the Big Ten will be the elephant in the room.

SEC Media Days is viewed nationally as an annual glaze fest wherein coaches and players hype up how good the conference is.

Will that still happen after three consecutive years of getting left out of the national championship? Absolutely, especially as the SEC expands to a nine-game conference schedule for the first time.

What will the Indiana and Big Ten tone be at SEC Media Days?

After all, there are six new coaches in the SEC. Will they discuss what Curt Cignetti did in just two years' time for a team that could now become the team of the 2020s?

It's not that IU's 27-2 mark through two seasons should be the new standard for rebuilds across the sport, but it could open a wave of optimism at programs seeking limitless ceilings.

Something like "you just watched what Indiana did ... why can't we win a national championship?" could become a prevailing sentiment at places like Kentucky or even a national championship-winning program like Auburn, who is more recently in the midst of its worst five-year stretch since the Harry Truman administration.

In some ways, though, that could come across as dismissive. After all, replicating one of the best underdog stories in college football history takes a variety of factors lining up, and it's not as simple as getting the right portal quarterback or having the right influx of talent.

Someone like Kentucky coach Will Stein seems to already understand that.

A few months ago, I asked the former Oregon offensive coordinator how he reacts when he hears someone talk about whether Kentucky can be the new Indiana having been on the wrong end of two games involving the Hoosiers last year.

"I think they say that because Indiana, for the majority of my life, has been a 'basketball school' and they like to say that Kentucky is a 'basketball school.' So I think that's the biggest comparison," Stein told The OG Kickoff in May.

"But if you look at Kentucky during the (Mark) Stoops era, they were top-10 in the country five years ago, so I think it's even different than IU ... I mean, Indiana was the losing-est program in the history of college football, turned into a national champion."

Stein's praise of IU didn't stop there.

"I think Curt Cignetti is an elite coach. Bryant Haines, elite coach. (Mike) Shanahan, elite coach ... they've evaluated great, they coached their ass off, they have great scheme, they played better than everyone last year. They coached better than everybody," Stein said.

"They did a national championship-type job, and they deserved to win every single game. I don't care what you say. To win every single freaking game in college football is like almost impossible, and they did that."

That tone wasn't exactly, "anyone can show up and do what IU did." Stein, who grew up a diehard Kentucky fan, understands the history of both UK and IU.

The former had the slight edge in the pre-Cignetti era, but Stein admitted "if Kentucky could've scored points last year, I wouldn't be here."

He's right. He's also right in pointing out that UK isn't attempting the same thing Indiana is because the circumstances of his hiring were different than Cignetti's. Stein replaced Stoops, who had more wins than any coach in program history.

But will praise or back-handed compliments be evident for IU and the Big Ten?

That's what I want to know.

Will IU be treated by SEC players and coaches as a cute, one-off story, or will some dismiss the path to a national championship even though that path included a Rose Bowl beatdown of SEC Championship participant Alabama?

It'd be strange if Alabama players addressed IU with anything but respect. To be clear, I didn't think that Ty Simpson's takeaway from his rough afternoon against the Hoosiers warranted the response that Haines delivered. What's clear is that it doesn't feel like it takes much to slight IU these days.

Now if Ryan Coleman-Williams is asked about Indiana and says something like "we feel like they just caught us on an off day," buckle up. That's the type disrespect that would make the rounds.

You know, like when Lane Kiffin went on "Pardon My Take" and blamed the SEC's lack of recent postseason success on the depth of the conference, which he said wasn't as strong as the Big Ten's.

Lane Kiffin explains the difference in SEC and Big ten scheduling and why the Big ten has an advantage in the post season pic.twitter.com/cieMd3zCIq
— Pardon My Take (@PardonMyTake) May 20, 2026

Nobody is changing their opinion on that in the SEC, even though the tides have turned with those postseason results. If that's a popular opinion that's vocalized among SEC players and coaches in Tampa, we're in for a war of words for when Cignetti and the rest of the Big Ten conducts its Media Days in Chicago the following week.

It's even tougher to make a case against IU's path now knowing that in a 12-team Playoff, you're not winning a national championship without at least four wins against top-10 teams (IU had five and that's not including the aforementioned win vs. No. 11 Alabama).

But hey, if we've learned anything about college football in this era, it's that everyone will continue to look out for their own agenda. It's why about the only thing the Big Ten and SEC can agree on is opposing the "Protect College Sports Act."

Fingers crossed that the conversations in Tampa will be less about that and more about relevant on-field topics like the defending national champs.

Or rather, the elephant in the room.

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