Nothing in sport reflects the changing demographics of the country more than college football — most especially the decline of the Big Ten Conference and the ascendance of the Southeastern Conference.
Big Ten territory represents steel mills and coal mines, blue collars and black smoke, where America's pigskin heroes used to be weaned on frozen fields. But the SEC, in the growing Sun Belt, has completely taken over. Mississippi State is the No. 1 team in the country. Excuse me: Mississippi State? This is like Antiques Roadshow soaring to the top of television ratings.
Not only that, University of Mississippi is ranked third. State and Ole Miss will play each other next month in the Egg Bowl. Excuse me: the Egg Bowl? Can you imagine Michigan and Ohio State in combat in something called the Egg Bowl? But it's come to that.
Click on the audio link above to hear Deford's take on the issue.
Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.
