Back when Drew Brees was at Purdue, the Big 10 was pretty good (Associated Press)

So, Sunday is for the NFL, but Saturday is for college football. And, since today is Saturday, we’ll take a brief break from NFL talk (kinda) to discuss college football… with one of professional football’s stars.

Today’s topic? Why the Big Ten sucks. Now, the Big Ten being terrible isn’t new. But it is timely, with no conference teams in the coaches’ poll. Why not ask former Purdue QB Drew Brees what he thinks… especially because he lives in New Orleans, which is SEC Country through and through. It’s all LSU there.

In the phone call that led to posts like this one and this one, Brees explained.

“You know what? I’m so disappointed… especially because I live in New Orleans and it’s SEC country, and all I hear is SEC football this and that, and I can’t talk,” Brees told me. “I can’t say anything because the Big Ten just has not represented well, especially when we play SEC schools, we just get smashed. But, you know? And I don’t want to sound like, ‘Hey, back when I played…’ (old man voice) I felt like, man, late 90s. When I look at some of those (teams, it was impressive).”

With that, Brees went back in his memory bank. It sounded like he was talking about yesterday.

“Like the Wisconsin team with Ron Dayne, two-time Rose Bowl champs, and we had some battles with them,” Brees said. “Penn State, LaVarr Arrington, Courtney Brown, that defense, they were second in the country when we played them my junior year. Michigan, they were fifth in the country both times we played them. Michigan State, they were 10-11 win team, beat Florida in a bowl game my senior year. Michigan beats Alabama in the Orange Bowl my junior year… I felt like we were toe-to-toe with any conference in the country. And it seemed like we were always well-represented playing Pac 10 teams and SEC teams and Big 12 teams. Man, we just held our own and … I don’t know. But for whatever reason, we certainly can’t compete with the SEC right now, unfortunately.”

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