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Bruce Pearl takes shot at Big Ten football, says SEC teams were ‘exhausted’ at end of season
By Paul Harvey
Published:
Bruce Pearl knows a thing or two about college basketball. But recently, the head coach of the No. 1-ranked Auburn team decided to venture into the world of evaluating college football.
The discussion arose during an appearance on “The Gary Parrish Show.“Pearl was asked by the host about the impending SEC Basketball Tournament and the likelihood his Tigers could be standing on Sunday, playing for the championship of the event.
The head coach was asked about the potential trade-off of wear-and-tear for his program fighting for the SEC title before the NCAA Tournament, and Pearl turned the scenario onto the gridiron. In the process, he took a shot at Big Ten, saying the league is nowhere near as deep as SEC football.
“There’s a lot to unpack there. I’m going to equate it to football. I’ll get beat up for this a little bit, but top to bottom the Big Ten in football is not as strong as the SEC in football,’ proclaimed Bruce Pearl. “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. You look at Ole Miss and what they had to go through, the incredible grind.”
The 2 Big Ten teams Pearl felt the need to specifically address were Ohio State and Penn State, 2 teams who reached the semifinals and the eventual champion. Buckeyes. Pearl said those programs only had “2 or 3 games” comparable to what the SEC’s heavy hitters had to go through in 2024.
“Now you’re at Ohio State or you’re at Penn State… They only had 2 or 3 games on the entire schedule that were like 7 or 8 games for Ole Miss, or Alabama, or Auburn, or any of the SEC teams. I think those football guys were exhausted,” Pearl said.
For what it’s worth, ESPN’s FPI believes Georgia finished the year with the toughest schedule in the country, once Playoff games were accounted for. Ohio State did finish 2nd in that measure, but Mississippi State was 3rd on the list. For context, the Bulldogs were the only non-bowl-eligible team in the top 7 spots, so their level of difficulty was especially tough across the 12 regular season games.
Paul Harvey lives in Atlanta and covers SEC football.
