Kirby Smart's Curt Cignetti Comment Is the Latest Jab in the Big Ten-SEC Cold War

It just means more. Left unsaid in the SEC’s trademark slogan is that perhaps it means less in other conferences. Yet, the subtle air of condescension feels more like a superiority complex these days, as the SEC has been elbowed out of the way by the Big Ten—which has won the last three football national championships.

So it was no surprise that, come Big Ten media days this past July, the conference decided to puff out its feathers a bit—displaying its three national championship trophies for all to see. And its rare bird and architect of its latest triumph, the taciturn yet fiery Indiana coach Curt Cignetti, decided to do some of the puffing.

“We don't run a hype machine up here in the Midwest,” Cignetti, ruffling every feather that side of the Mississippi and then some, said this past summer. “We believe everything is earned, not given. When we fall short, we say we fall short. When we don't win, we don't cry a river. We don't whine and complain. That's why we're the best.”

With a whole summer to sit and stew on that subliminal diss, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey’s teams have come out swinging. After Ohio State came out of the gate ranked No. 1 in the preseason AP Top 25 poll, an SEC team has held the top spot since Week 2. In the latest iteration of the poll, there are nine SEC teams to six from the Big Ten. The Big Ten fires back with three undefeated teams in conference play to the SEC’s one, but the somewhat top-heavy conference loses the depth argument, with six winless teams in conference play compared to the SEC’s two.

In other words, the SEC is winning—for now. Despite the prosperity on the field, no one thought that Cignetti’s verbal haymaker from July was going to go unanswered. Certainly not in college football.

So it was on Monday that Georgia coach Kirby Smart, fresh off of a resume-boosting road win over fellow SEC power and top-10 Alabama that vaulted the Bulldogs to No. 1 in the AP poll, spread his wings and served what reads as a subtle shot back across the Big Ten’s bow.

Asked about if there is a “Cignetti effect” in college football these days where programs get turned around faster than breakfast orders at a diner on Saturday morning, Smart saw the question as a batting practice fastball and swung for the fences.

Pausing like a comedian before a witty punchline, Smart delivered the blow.

“I’m still waiting on the first Cignetti effect in the SEC,” the Georgia coach said. “It’s tough, tough, tough sledding week in, week out.”

In other words, your (Indiana’s) 33-2 record the last three years is cute, but try doing it in our conference. Someone should have asked Smart if he’s seen Will Stein’s Kentucky team these days.

In all seriousness, Smart took some of the bite off of his comment by being quite complimentary of Cignetti’s process, and saying that maybe—just maybe—it could happen in the SEC if the stars align at the sport’s most important position.

“Maybe it could happen with the right guy bringing the right players with him,” Smart continued. “But it’s tough. Key to all that is the quarterback and Coach Cignetti has done a tremendous job developing or bringing—or getting—quarterbacks. And that’s a big part to every offense’s or team’s success.”

Notice Smart didn’t say the Big Ten’s name once, but he didn’t have to. And so it goes. College football’s powers continue to circle each other in verbal warfare like boxers years before the prize fight. The cold war continues.

Here’s hoping it gets settled in this year’s CFP.