Kirby Smart Has Theory On Why Big Ten Has Surged Past The SEC

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“I don’t know, I can’t figure out what it is. I just think they have a more competitive conference,” Smart said, via On3. “At the top of their conference, there’s more good teams. It used to be Ohio State was good. Well, Michigan was really good with (Jim) Harbaugh, had a great team. Indiana’s good. Like, now they’ve got Oregon. They’ve got a draw. They have the ability to attract good players.”
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“Now NIL has a factor too, for sure, but so does Miami. So does Florida. I mean, people have money. More people have money,” Smart explained. “So I think the talent is spread out thin, whereas before in the SEC, it was a magnet to talent. The disparity was so great that it was like you couldn’t mess it up. You’d win regardless. And now it’s like, OK. It’s more even. And it’s just been three in a row, they did it.”
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“A lot of SEC coaches say this in my meetings, they say, ‘They don’t have the grind we do. There’s no way. They play three of their nine games are hard. Their bottom four games are not our bottom four games. I’m going to play at Starkville and Vanderbilt in my bottom four and I’m holding onto my butt to be able to play at noon on Saturday in Starkville, who beat Arizona State, who goes and plays these other teams.’ So there is a theory that we’re beating each other up and it’s like the intensity and it wears you down.”

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