Which conference has the recruiting edge?

The facts point to an SEC advantage on the field, and this advantage might start in the classroom. Compared to schools the Big Ten, most SEC institutions fall short academically. U.S. News & World Report ranks every university in the country each year based on average acceptance rate, retention rate, graduation rate and SAT and ACT scores, among other criteria. In these rankings, SEC universities fall short of those in the Big Ten.

The average ranking for an SEC school is 99th. Big Ten schools come in at an average of 53rd. Michigan State, the lowest ranked school in the Big Ten, is tied for 79th nationally with the fourth-best SEC school, Alabama. The Big Ten consists of 11 universities and the SEC has 12 institutions. These lower academic standards might be an asset in recruiting high school players as they lengthen the list of available recruits and therefore directly affect on-field performance.

"What the SEC will do is several teams will sign more borderline kids. They take more chances on kids that may or may not qualify," said Scott Kennedy, director of scouting for Scout.com. "A Big Ten team doesn’t want to have three or four borderline kids on their list."

Steve Helwagen, staff writer for recruiting website Bucknuts.com, agreed. "I think that that is pretty obvious that some of those SEC schools can get the at-risk kids," Helwagen said. "It doesn’t take a math wizard to realize that gives them an incredible competitive advantage if they are able to pull from a larger pool of players to build their roster."

SEC schools hauled in 73 of Rivals’ top 250 high school prospects in the 2011 class, compared to only 27 for Big Ten schools.