Big 12 Conference trolls ESPN's Nick Saban after he takes a shot at the conference

You can take Nick Saban out of the S.E.C. but you can't take the S.E.C. out of Nick Saban. We were reminded of that again this week as the former head coach of Alabama and LSU and 7-time National Champion took a shot at the Big 12 Conference while trying to prop up the playoff case of S.E.C. team, Ole Miss. However, the Big 12 didn't take the remarks lying down.

Appearing Wednesday on the Pat McAfee Show on ESPN, Saban was opining about the College Football Playoff race when he showed his S.E.C. bias once again.

"But the subjective part of this that you can never fix," he said, "is the conferences are not equal. They are not equal in depth of good teams nor are they equal in the quality of the best teams.

"So, to give you an example, let's just take Ole Miss so that I stay away from this whole Alabama thing. So, if Ole Miss played in the Big 12, what would their record be? That's the kind of subjective issues that we have in college football that's never going to change unless we take the best 40 teams in college football and put them in a league very similar to the 32 teams that are in the NFL and then the competition level is probably going to be more equal so that now you could actually say beating good teams because you're playing good teams all the time."

It should come as no surprise that Saban is shilling for the S.E.C. After all, that's the conference in which he made his greatest mark as a head coach and, what's more, he's now employed by ESPN which has the S.E.C. broadcast rights.

What might have been surprising, though, is that the Big 12 didn't take this slight in stride. Rather, the conference sent out a very telling social media post on X detailing Ole Miss's recent struggles against Big 12 teams in the postseason.

The post showed the results of Ole Miss' last three bowl games against Big 12 opponents. In each, the Rebels not only lost but were blown out.

In the 2014 Peach Bowl, the No. 9 Rebels were thumped by No. 6 TCU 42-3. More recently, in January of 2022, No. 8 Ole Miss took it on the chin from No. 7 Baylor in the Sugar Bowl 21-7. Then, in December of 2022, the Rebels were humbled by Texas Tech 42-25 in the Texas Bowl.

All three of those games were referenced prominently in the Big 12's post. But the troll job didn't stop there.

The image of Saban that was used was one of him in a Miami Dolphins shirt. Of course, Saban had a failed stint as head coach of that NFL franchise when he went 15-17 overall in parts of two seasons (2005-06).

Saban's remarks show his incredible S.E.C. bias. What he fails to mention is that this year, just like every year, Ole Miss had all the talent in the world but couldn't capitalize on it. Instead, the Rebels lost games to teams like Kentucky, Florida, and LSU, all of which are currently unranked. In fact, none of those teams has won more than seven games thus far in 2024.

Therefore, it is more appropriate to ask not what Ole Miss' record would be in the Big 12 but rather, which games the Rebels would have lost to underdog teams had they played in that conference because that's what Ole Miss does. It is a program that annually loses games it shouldn't.

As for Saban, he's become just another cog in the ESPN machine, one that is designed to promote the S.E.C. at all costs. That has taken away much of his credibility and made him essentially a mouthpiece for a network that lost its objectivity years ago.

Thankfully, the leadership of the Big 12 is now fighting back against the narrative that it is a substandard conference and one to be looked down upon. For years, under previous leadership, the conference seemed resigned to accept its place at the foot of the table but now, commissioner Brett Yormark and the rest of the Big 12 leadership are determined to fight the typical narratives that come from the networks.

So even if a legend like Nick Saban wants to spout off about the Big 12, he had better be ready for a response because the Big 12 is no longer going to take strays from anyone.