Caleb Downs compares playing in SEC vs. Big Ten, difference in schedule

Just two years ago, Caleb Downs was fresh off a breakout freshman season at Alabama, where he was named the SEC Freshman of the Year after leading the Crimson Tide with an eye-popping 107 tackles. But following Nick Saban‘s surprising retirement in early January 2024, the former five-star recruit took the opportunity to hit the NCAA Transfer Portal before landing at Ohio State.

Since then, all Downs has known is winning, quarterbacking the Buckeyes’ NCAA-best defense to 26 wins in its last 28 games, including spearheading Ohio State’s national championship run in last year’s College Football Playoffs. This year, Downs’ top-ranked Buckeyes (12-0, 9-0 Big Ten) are undefeated ahead of Saturday’s Big Ten Championship Game in Indianapolis vs. No. 2 Indiana (12-0, 9-0 Big Ten).

But before that, Downs opened up about the biggest difference he’s noticed between the Big Ten and SEC during a recent appearance on the See Ball Get Ball with David Pollack podcast.

“I would definitely say (that in) the SEC, you’re playing every weekend, you’re playing a big (opponent) every week,” Downs told Pollack on Monday’s See Ball Get Ball podcast. “That was something (I realized) when I was at Alabama, it was every week, ‘Ok, we’re playing Tennessee this week, we’re playing LSU next week, then we got Auburn.’ You’re playing dudes every week, so that’s something you have to prepare your body for, prepare your mind for.

“I would say in the Big Ten, you’re going to have four or five games (in a season) maybe where you’re going to have to play high-level competition and really have to be at your highest point. So that’s a difference,” Downs continued. “But then again, I said that when I first got to Ohio State and then a lot of the teams that were in the Big Ten, when it came to bowl games, ended up beating the SEC teams (last season). So I feel like that kind of negated what I said.”

Downs isn’t wrong. The Big Ten won six of its 10 games against the SEC in 2024, including a dominant 5-1 mark in the postseason. That included a pair of Ohio State victories over Tennessee and Texas in last year’s College Football Playoff. Michigan, Illinois and USC also claimed bowl wins over SEC opponents.

Despite that recent run of success, the SEC has won more games than it’s lost vs. the Big Ten over the past several seasons, including a 4-2 bowl record in 2023. Outside of a .500 (2-2) mark between the two conferences in 2019 and a 1-3 record vs. the Big Ten in 2017, the SEC has a commanding 25-15 record against the Big Ten between 2015-23, according to mcubed.net.