Part of why they have won a lot though is 8 conference games. You sub out an average conference game for a sure winner and it adds 0.5 wins to everyone on average. It's less of a deal to the Bama or Georgia types who would have won anyway. But it inflates the middling teams a lot, and they end up 9-3 instead of 8-4 and on the edge of CFP contention.ESPN isn’t going to be shilling for 8-4 Iowa over 10-2 BYU.
But yeah, of course Sankey thinks he’ll get more. He’s probably right.
It’s not the SEC part of this that pisses everyone off. As annoying as their propaganda is, they’ve won a lot. The Big 10 gets put in that tier because large population/big brand schools, while the bulk of the league could be swapped out with ACC and Big 12 teams and see no change to the TV value or overall quality.
And so you get Mizzou at 9-3 last year, but whose best win was either:
a) Boston College by 6 (in Columbia)
b) Vandy by 3 in 2OT (in Columbia)
c) Arkansas by 7 (in Columbia)
(Mizzou they only won on the road twice, vs teams that both ended the season 2-10)
I will just hypothesize if Mizzou had played at say, Tennessee instead of at UMass, they probably end up 8-4...
WRT actual titles -
Yes, Saban & Kirby are all-time legend coaches, and they have won 7 titles in the past 15 years (of the 9 titles the SEC has). Two guys! I don't see SEC dominance wrt the title continuing like that.