The Big Ten Conference is host the last three national champions in college football: Indiana (2025), Ohio State (2024), Michigan (2023). In celebration, the conference has released a new shirt donning the phrase ‘trifecta.’
The shirt was revealed in a post on social media. On the post, the Big Ten provided the caption, “Get the shirt and let ’em know,’ seemingly referring to the conversation against the SEC over which conference is the best in college football.
Amid the Big Ten’s third-straight title win, the SEC hasn’t been in the championship game at all in the past three seasons. Georgia’s championship win in 2022 was the second of back-to-back titles, and the last time the SEC won a title in general, let alone appeared in a title game.
After Nick Saban retired following the 2023 season, Kirby Smart became the only coach in the SEC to have won a national championship as head coach. Although Georgia has been to two College Football Playoffs in a row since, they’ve lost in the Sugar Bowl both seasons. This includes the 39-34 loss to Ole Miss from New Year’s Day.
Five SEC teams — Georgia, Ole Miss, Texas A&M, Alabama and Oklahoma — occupied the 12-team playoff field this season. and it appeared as though the odds were in the conference’s favor. After the Rebels beat Tulane in the first round, it set up the Georgia-Ole Miss quarterfinal matchup.
This guaranteed the SEC a spot in the national semifinal. Still, it was the Big Ten (Indiana) and ACC (Miami) — whose conference champion was not a part of the playoff field — competing for the championship last month. Indiana would go on to defeat Miami 27-21.
Both the Big Ten Conference and SEC are expected to have national championship contenders among their ranks heading into the 2026 season. In each of the last three seasons, however, the Big Ten has been the team to run the gauntlet, including each of the first two CFP’s in its 12-team format.
Until the 2026-27 season is concluded, the Big Ten will hold bragging rights over the SEC. The Big Ten has a chance to four-peat in 2026 with many expecting the likes of Indiana and Ohio State to be right in the mix once again.