Eli Drinkwitz pushes back on reporter claiming the SEC is not at 'the top' of college football

If Missouri Tigers head coach Eli Drinkwitz wanted to make anything clear at SEC Media Days, it was that the SEC is still at the top of college football. That’s despite failing to win the last two national championships.

While at the podium, Drinkwitz was asked by a reporter how the SEC can get back to the top of the college football pyramid. However, he paused before pushing back on that claim. For Drinkwitz, the SEC never left the top after all, so he didn’t even agree with the question.

“The top,” Drinkwitz responded. “The top, as in number of draft picks in the NFL? Top as in most viewership? Top as in overall deepest conference in college football? Yeah, I heard that last night. ‘Well, they haven’t won the national championship in the last two years.’ I don’t know what was it, the previous 10? 14?”

Going back to the start of the College Football Playoff, the SEC has made 10 appearances in the championship game, winning six times. That’s in 11 years of the Playoff’s existence. Of that, three SEC teams have won it all, Alabama, Georgia, and LSU, during that time. Only the 2014, 2023, and 2024 championships saw the SEC miss the championship game completely.

The Big Ten and ACC have both made four national championship appearances. The Big Ten’s three wins, two by Ohio State and one by Michigan, are the second closest. However, in the recent iterations, including an expanded to 12-team format, it’s been other conferences that have dominated. In particular, the Big Ten has won the last two national championships, and while Washington was in the Pac-12 at the time, they’ve since moved to the Big Ten. That means that three of the last four teams to play for a championship came from the Big Ten.

“So, look, the more teams you add to the tournament, there’s greater variance to it. So, I don’t necessarily think that we’re that far off,” Drinkwitz said. “I don’t think you’ve got any more pressure. You’ve got 16 of the toughest competitors in the world who are head coaches in this league. We’re all driven to be the best, whether that’s internally or externally. We feel pressure to achieve that, but there’s no pressure because we’ve got to do it for the SEC. We want to do it for our team, our players, our fans.”

The College Football Playoff will once again let 12 teams play in the tournament for a national championship this season. Whether it’s Eli Drinkwitz and Missouri or another SEC program that does so, it’s expected that the Tigers get back to the top of the pyramid soon.