Desmond Howard trolls SEC by saying it’s a ‘basketball conference’

There has been a lot of talk this year about perceived SEC bias from ESPN given College GameDay‘s frequent visits to SEC schools and the conference’s billion dollar contract with the network. But nobody told Desmond Howard about the company line.

The SEC-ESPN relationship is going to always fall under heavy scrutiny from college football fans who think the network is out to over-promote the league and give it a beneficial narrative. Of course, when pro-SEC personalities like Paul Finebaum and Cam Newton are heavily featured, maybe there’s a reason why that perception exists.

But one person at ESPN who does not have any loyalty to the SEC is longtime College GameDay analyst Desmond Howard. While the former Michigan Heisman winner usually saves most of his antagonistic comments for arch rival Ohio State, he had something to say to the SEC and its fans on Saturday morning’s show coming from Vanderbilt.

As the program was talking about the upcoming matchups in the Big Ten and the likelihood that Ohio State, Indiana, and Oregon are all pretty much locks to make the playoff, Howard spotted his moment.

Desmond Howard trolls SEC fans by joking that they are a “basketball conference” and that college football runs through the Big 10. pic.twitter.com/QlFYpWF9wP

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) October 25, 2025

“I think the Big Ten will get three in. I think the Big Ten right now runs college football. College football, it goes through the Big Ten conference,” Howard said.

As the fans started to boo, Desmond Howard leaned in even more with probably the most offensive thing you could say to an SEC college football fan.

“Hey, the SEC is a basketball conference. There’s nothing wrong with that. You should take pride in that,” Howard joked.

As much as it may pain SEC fans to hear given their historic dominance over the sport throughout much of the 2000s, the tide has shifted recently with Michigan and Ohio State winning the last two national championships. And the Big Ten was 5-1 against the SEC in the postseason last year. Meanwhile on the hardwood, the Florida Gators of the SEC are the reigning national champions.

As always, the best and hardest hitting troll jobs are usually the ones that have at least a little bit of truth.