Don’t count ESPN personality and College GameDay analyst Lee Corso among the folks who think the SEC is taking a back seat to the Big Ten or the ACC.

With the rise of Ohio State under Urban Meyer and Michigan under Jim Harbaugh, there’s been some talk, especially last year, that the Big Ten has caught and surpassed the SEC as the nation’s premier conference. Even FOX Sports’ Colin Cowherd thinks the ACC is better than the SEC at this point, and with Clemson beating Alabama in the national championship, you can’t call his argument completely crazy.

The conference’s work on the field speaks for itself, and most recently, the SEC dominated the NFL Draft, too. No doubt it has the largest collection of talent in the country, but there is an argument for the lack of elite coaches not named Nick Saban. That doesn’t mean it’s not the best conference though.

Corso hopped on The Opening Kickoff on WNSP-FM 105.5 (Opening Kickoff Hour 2 at 31:00) to discuss all things SEC, and among them, he touted the conference’s strength, especially when compared to the Big Ten.

“It’s the SEC,” he said. “It’s the best football conference in the country, but Ohio State, Michigan and Penn State are in a real good conference. Wisconsin is pretty good. But what they did in the bowl games really hurt them. They didn’t win a single bowl game, those top three teams. And that kills them from a national perception. There is talk about them catching up to the SEC, but they haven’t.”

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Corso continued, “The whole SEC is a great conference. You take all the weight of the SEC. That’s the difference between the SEC and other conferences. There are six, seven, eight real good teams in the SEC, and now Alabama — head and shoulders — is above everyone else. But there are very good teams right under them.”

Corso chose not to pick his College Football Playoff four teams yet, and he really didn’t offer any other predictions. But he did elaborate on Alabama, Auburn and LSU.

When asked about what sets Alabama apart from the SEC and makes them a perennial contender, Corso pointed to one specific reason.

“Recruiting,” he said bluntly.

“The fact is people try and make some things about ‘they have so many coaches; they have a nutrition coach.’ Let me tell you something, it gets down to recruiting. The guy who gets the best players year-in and year-out is going to win.”

Corso also offered a warning to the Crimson Tide about Auburn this season, especially with the addition of Jarrett Stidham.

“I tell you what, Auburn is going to be a good football team,” Corso said. “You better watch out, Alabama, because that quarterback, Jarret Stidham, he can play. He’s going to make Auburn a real good football team.”

When the hosts asked Corso the differences between Alabama and LSU in recent history, he pointed to the quarterback play.

“LSU has not had a quarterback,” he explained. “You can recruit great athletes, but you better get a quarterback. The No. 1 job of a coach is to recruit a quarterback. Their talent is good but it isn’t as good as Alabama. There’s no doubt about that.”

While Corso talked SEC, he also offered a bit of humor. The former Florida State player said he was famous at FSU for one thing: being Burt Reynolds’ roommate.

“The guy was so good looking, I used him for bait,” he said. “He’d go out there and bring two girls back. One was ugly, and I got her. His ugly girlfriends were better than anything I could get on my own. And boy, with his looks and my car, we’d kill ’em in Tallahassee.”

While Corso’s health has been under the microscope in recent history, he is a national treasure, and he’s great for college football. Here’s to hoping for many more seasons for the analyst.