Paul Finebaum calls out Big Ten after SEC reveals nine-game conference schedules

Tuesday officially marked a new era for the SEC. Schedules for the 2026-2029 seasons were released, featuring nine conference games. The league made a decision to move away from eight to bring a tougher strength of schedule for the College Football Playoff.

After every single team’s schedule was revealed, Paul Finebaum took some time to call out the Big Ten. On the receiving end of plenty of trash talk, Finebaum says that is over. He believes with the SEC now at nine games, there is no debate between the two conferences on which is tougher.

“For so long, the Big Ten snobs have been able to look down and take shots,” Finebaum said Tuesday on SEC Now. “And that’s over now. If they’re watching this, and we know they are, they’re sick to their stomach because you match what we have here vs. what we’re seeing week-to-week there, it doesn’t match up.

“I think it was a very smart decision by Commissioner Sankey and the leadership to finally put an end to it. There were a lot of things that went on that slowed it down but this is a blockbuster schedule. The league answers to no one anymore.”

You can go back nearly a decade since the Big Ten implemented a nine-game league schedule — since 2016, a couple of years after they added Maryland and Rutgers. Given the College Football Playoff began in 2014, it’s been a massive argument between the Big Ten and SEC over the years.

Now, the two are on equal footing when it comes to playing nine games. One difference is the SEC still requires another power conference (ACC, Big 12, Big Ten, or Notre Dame) member to pop up on the schedule. Even so, Finebaum opines the SEC is at a different level given the conference’s strength.

There is still plenty of football to be played during the 2025 season. After all, the month of October has yet to even hit. Head-to-head games between the Big Ten and SEC are done for a few months. If they are going to face off, it will be when the College Football Playoff takes place in late December and parts of January.

However, the debate about which conference is atop the college football world will continue. For Finebaum, the SEC reigns supreme due to the new schedule implementation for 2026 and beyond. You have to imagine folks in Big Ten country would have something to say about that, though.