Big 12 fires back at Nick Saban over Ole Miss comments with strange graphic

Nick Saban subtly called out the Big 12 on Wednesday when appearing on The Pat McAfee Show. And he has since heard back from the conference via social media.

When discussing three-loss Ole Miss in terms of the College Football Playoff, Saban wondered what their record would be in the Big 12. His point being — a harder schedule in the SEC meant the Rebels had more losses, likely eliminating them from CFP discussion. If they were player in a league with less depth and not as top-heavy programs, the record, in his opinion, would be a lot better.

The Big 12 decided to fire back at both Saban and Ole Miss with a graphic a few hours later. Three scores of conference members in bowl games, Baylor (2021 Sugar Bowl), TCU (2014 Peach Bowl), and Texas Tech (2022 TaxAct Bowl), were above a photo of Saban coaching for the Miami Dolphins.

Undefeated in Hypothetical Games https://t.co/kVbkzmDnd5 pic.twitter.com/4lznb1zpXe

— Big 12 Conference (@Big12Conference) November 27, 2024

The Big 12’s caption, “Undefeated in Hypothetical Games”, has been commonly used when discussing the SEC on social media. In fairness, Saban wondering how Ole Miss would play in the Big 12 is purely hypothetical from the seven-time national champion head coach.

“The subjective part of this that you can never fix is — the conferences are not equal,” Saban said. “They’re not equal in depth of good teams nor are they equal in the quality of good teams. So, to give you an example, let’s just take Ole Miss so I stay away from this whole Alabama thing. 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.”

Of teams currently in the Big 12, Ole Miss currently has a 28-12 all-time record against them. Looking at former members of the Big 12, Texas + Oklahoma, it’s skewed toward them at 3-6. Although, this year’s win against the Sooners was an SEC showdown.

Commissioner Brett Yormark will continue to fight for his conference to have a seat in the college football landscape. Based on Tuesday’s latest CFP rankings, just one Big 12 team would get into the 12-team field. Getting an at-large big seems to be an uphill battle.

Saban’s comments certainly do not help but firing back on social media, and taking down Ole Miss along the way, provides for some good social media debate.