Well, this isn't going to help ESPN beat the allegations.
It's something of an open secret that ESPN wants the SEC to be the dominant powerhouse in college football. Now that ESPN is the home of most SEC television broadcasts, along with the producer of the SEC Network, it's become abundantly clear that they have a vested interest in promoting the conference and its teams.
The more SEC teams are ranked in the polls, the more "games between ranked teams" they can advertise. The more teams that reach the College Football Playoff, the better for the network. Potentially in terms of future promotion and current ratings. Their advocacy has real meaning, both in terms of fan perception and, as many believe, with the playoff selection committee.
Former Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn said as much last season, arguing that the Alabama Crimson Tide were included after a blowout loss to Georgia primarily because ESPN worked so hard, with Greg Sankey and several coaches, to sell the narrative that even reaching the SEC Championship Game was an unimaginable accomplishment. Ignore that non-competitive loss to an awful Florida State team. Kirk Herbstreit went on a tirade during the 2024-25 playoff after Indiana lost to Notre Dame, yet had nothing to say about Alabama's utter obliteration in the 2026 Rose Bowl. As just a few examples.
There's an entire infrastructure of SEC-based promoters and personalities throughout the organization. Paul Finebaum being one of the more obvious examples. But flying under the radar is ESPN radio host and SEC Network studio anchor Peter Burns.
Burns makes no bones about his job: sell the SEC. At all costs. Which, uh, backfired a bit recently when Burns tried to dunk on the Big Ten's schedule based on the preseason coaches poll.
"9 SEC schools play at least 5 of the Top 25 teams in the coaches poll," he posted. "Not a single Big 10 team plays 5. Efficient work."
There's just one problem with that statement and attempted dunk. It's not true.
Not only is there more than one Big Ten team that plays at least five of the top 25 teams in the coaches poll, there's actually seven Big Ten teams that do.
Ohio State plays Texas, Iowa, Indiana, USC, Oregon and Michigan. That's six teams.
Michigan plays Oklahoma, Iowa, Penn State, Indiana, Oregon and Ohio State. That's also six.
LANE KIFFIN MAKES RIDICULOUS EXCUSES FOR SEC'S POOR RECENT PERFORMANCE IN COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF
USC plays Oregon, Washington, Penn State, Ohio State and Indiana. That's five.
Nebraska plays Indiana, Oregon, Washington, Ohio State and Iowa. That's five.
Minnesota plays Washington, Michigan, Iowa, Indiana and Penn State. That's also five.
Washington plays USC, Iowa, Penn State, Indiana and Oregon. Five again.
Purdue plays Notre Dame, Washington, Penn State, Iowa and Indiana. Five teams.
USC would have six, but Notre Dame backed out of playing their traditional rivalry game early in the season, only to agree to do that same thing in 2030, for some reason. But the point remains, if you're going to try to claim SEC superiority based on the coaches poll, of all things, at least be accurate about it.
Obviously the job of the SEC Network is to promote the SEC. They're not covering it objectively, or even pretending to. But the problem is that ESPN has an inordinate amount of influence with the College Football Playoff. And this type of inaccuracy and reliance on preseason polls is exactly the type of snowball effect that fans of other conferences complain about.
SEC proponents brag about the number of preseason ranked games, then when some of those ranked teams come up well short of expectations, like, say 2025 Florida or Auburn, there's no adjustment later on. Once an SEC team is ranked in any poll at any point in the season, they are forever a ranked team. Both conferences have tough schedules with good teams. At this point, that's all that matters.
