College football analyst Josh Pate recently challenged the idea of a “Power 4” in college football. On his latest podcast, Pate explained why he believes the SEC and Big Ten are far ahead of the other conferences.
He broke down the 2025 NFL Draft results, making his point clearer. The SEC and Big Ten dominated the draft, while other conferences barely kept up. Pate argued the numbers from the draft showed just how big the gap has become in college football.
His message was simple: when it comes to real power, only two conferences are truly leading the way.
Josh Pate Exposes Flaws Exposed by SEC and Big Ten Draft Dominance in NFL Draft
On the recent The Josh Pate College Football Show episode, Pate didn’t hold back, stating, “There is no Power 4. Not that anyone went into this weekend with that grand illusion, but the NFL Draft just slapped us in the face again with a reminder that there’s the way you may want it to be. But then there’s the way it is. And the way it is is the SEC and the Big Ten.”
The SEC once again proved why it’s the king of college football. The SEC outperformed every other conference with 79 players selected in the 2025 NFL Draft. They even broke their last year’s record of 65 picks.
For the 19th straight year, the SEC led all conferences in draft selections. Big teams like Georgia (with 13 picks) and Texas (with 12 picks) helped power that dominance. Georgia even tied with Ohio State for the most picks from any school this year.
The Big Ten wasn’t far behind. They had 71 players drafted, with Ohio State leading the way with 14 selections. This impressive performance affirmed the dominance of the SEC and Big Ten. Together, these two conferences made up 150 of the 257 total picks — 58.3% of the entire draft.
Pate highlighted this huge gap even more. He pointed out that 26 of the 32 first-round picks came from just these two conferences. He called it a “deep valley” that separates the SEC and Big Ten from everyone else, like the ACC and Big 12.
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Pate also questioned the current system for the college football postseason. He suggested changing the playoff structure to reflect the fundamental team gap. “If we want to stop pretending that 100-plus teams are playing the same caliber of football… we divide up accordingly and have a postseason format accordingly,” he said.
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