Nick Saban claims NIL, financial support gives Big Ten an edge over SEC.

Now that the Big Ten has won back to back national championships and has several teams in position to compete for three straight, longtime SEC coach Nick Saban has a theory on why the two biggest leagues in football are evening out with one another.

“We always talk about that, I never think about it, I just look at the teams, but there is a rivalry between the Big Ten and the SEC, Saban said on last Friday’s edition of The Pat McAfee Show. “It can’t be denied.”

Saban went on t explain that the SEC usually held the advantage because of the culture in the southeastern United States that specifically emphasized sports at the collegiate level rather than professional. Allow him to explain.

"I think that the SEC was the SEC because of the culture in the South," Saban laid out. "There wasn't professional football in the South for a long time, and everybody related to the colleges. Well, now, that doesn't matter."

When picking a school came down to personal preference and relationships, southern culture kept many of the most talented players home, while now, it's the money talking over everything else.

"I mean, kids grew up wanting to go to LSU, Alabama and Georgia," Saban went on. "Got the money now. They don't mind going to Ohio State. They don't mind going to other places."

Since it the Big Ten schools often don't lack the money, but rather, the culture and talent hotbeds, they now are paying to bring that talent further north, which is drying up the land for the dozen-plus SEC contenders battling for players in the Bible Belt.

"So that geographic advantage that the Southeast Conference [had] may be changing a little bit now — with the different culture, with NIL and the money involved in decision-making," he shared. "I think that's created a bit of an edge for the Big Ten."

Schools like Ohio State, Oregon, Penn State, Michigan, those at the top, certainly have the funds to crash the SEC's party. But the SEC still gets by as the top conference on the back of its sheer depth of, what, 15 or 16 teams that could all threaten in other conferences.

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