Garrett Nussmeier: It's 'pretty evident' the SEC is best conference in college football

Garrett Nussmeier is tired of hearing other conferences compared to the SEC. At the 2025 SEC Kickoff on Monday, the LSU quarterback passionately declared the SEC as “toughest” conference.

“It is the toughest conference in all of football and I think that’s pretty evident. I don’t really care what anyone says about it,” Nussmeier said. “To play an SEC schedule week in and week out, you don’t get any rest… When you go from what we did, playing [Texas] A&M to Alabama to Florida. Like, it doesn’t get easy. So, definitely a learning experience.”

Last season, 11 of the top 20 teams in ESPN’s strength-of-schedule rankings were from the SEC. LSU was No. 14 on that list.

The Tigers never caught a break last season, facing off against four Top 25 teams, as well as others such as South Carolina that became ranked after facing LSU. Despite their difficult schedule, the Tigers finished the season with a 9-4 overall record and a 5-3 mark in conference play.

Nussmeier was largely responsible for LSU’s success. After spending three seasons as a backup, Nussmeier was finally LSU’s full-time starting quarterback last season.

He didn’t allow the opportunity to go to waste, completing 64.2% of his pass attempts for 4,052 yards and 29 touchdowns compared to just 12 interceptions. Nussmeier’s talents will be put to the test again this fall.

LSU is kicking off its season with a showdown against the Clemson Tigers, who are largely expected to be the best team in the ACC in 2025. Just two weeks later, LSU will square off against Florida and budding star DJ Lagway.

Throughout the rest of the season, LSU will clash heads with Ole Miss, Alabama, South Carolina, Texas A&M and Oklahoma. While the schedule could undoubtedly spell disaster for LSU, it could also lead to one of the best résumés in college football. Nussmeier believes he’s ready for the challenge.

“Being able to watch an entire season, correct mistakes and to go back and see my weaknesses and see things that I need to improve on, find the tells that I may have been giving to defenses and things like that. It’s a totally different ballgame, to have a full season to be able to watch and correct,” Nussmeier said. “Also, just from my personal growth as a player and having those experiences under my belt, I’ve seen a lot.

“We saw a lot of different defenses last year, a lot of different things. People had to try a lot of different things to stop us. Being able to see all those things – all those different pressures, all the different coverages – is something that’s going to help me a lot.”