The last three National Championships have come straight out of the Big Ten, with Michigan, Ohio State, and Indiana taking home the hardware. If you blinked, you might’ve missed the complete seismic shift rocking college football, but FOX Sports lead analyst Joel Klatt sure didn’t. Klatt recently dropped his ten burning questions for the 2026 season on “The Joel Klatt Show,” and the biggest one? Who actually runs college football these days. It is not the SEC, folks.
The Big Ten Officially Owns the Conversation
Klatt isn’t messing around; he calls this the biggest question in the sport for a reason. For way too long, the SEC was the undisputed king, dominating everything, snagging every championship, and flooding the first round of the NFL Draft with talent. But that era? It’s gone. Klatt points to a massive shift over the last few years, not just at the very top with championships, but also in bowl game records and even last year’s NFL Draft first round. Get this: over the last three seasons, the SEC is an abysmal 0-4 against the Big Ten in the College Football Playoff! Every single metric, every game that matters, every first-round draft pick, it all points to the Big Ten completely overtaking the SEC. Klatt’s prediction? He sees another Big Ten championship coming this year.
Indiana Is A Powerhouse On The Rise, Again
When it comes to whether Indiana can repeat as national champions, Klatt’s answer is an emphatic “Yes!” He sees Indiana as a true powerhouse right now, and he’s not wrong. Curt Cignetti, for Klatt, is the best coach in college football, full stop, and he proved it last year. That championship roster? It wasn’t as expensive as the big spenders they were beating in the College Football Playoff, showing just how good Cignetti and his staff are. And here’s the wild part: Cignetti retained his entire staff, and conversations around the program suggest they are quietly ahead of where they were each of the last two years. There’s a real chance this 2026 squad is even better. Josh Hoover is further along in the offense than Fernando Mendoza was last year or Kurtis Rourke two years ago. The offensive line is more developed, too. Even their front seven on defense might be better than last year, and that was already one of the best defenses in the nation.
The 2026 college football season just kicked off, and if Joel Klatt is right, we’re in for a wild ride where the old guard is officially dethroned. The Big Ten is here to stay, and Indiana looks unstoppable. Can anyone truly challenge them? We’ll see how these massive questions play out starting Week 1.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Fox Sports.
Leave a Reply