Hypothetical football was the SEC’s friend a year ago, though not an especially helpful one: Alabama, Ole Miss and South Carolina surely would have thumped the cutesy Indiana Hoosiers at any point on any field in 2024, but one loss to the only formidable team on a soft IU schedule was enough to make the College Football Playoff field over those three-loss survivors of bona fide gauntlets.
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(And then SMU stayed ahead of those three after losing the ACC title game to Clemson, and an offseason full of SEC whining — the league sets the college football standard for that as well — was assured.)
Hypothetical football favors the Big Ten now. It favors Big Ten power Indiana. The unbeaten Hoosiers and unbeaten Ohio State Buckeyes have looked like the best two teams in college football this season, consistently dominant on both
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