Is the Big Ten the New King of College Football?

If there was a moment that announced the Big Ten's arrival as college football's top conference, it wasn't Ohio State's capturing of last season's national title, Michigan's hiring of Jim Harbaugh or even Mark Dantonio's improbable and ongoing run through the 2015 campaign.

Rather, it was the unlikely words of an ESPN analyst that did the most to make some wonder whether the Big Ten had truly dethroned the SEC as America's best league.

Paul Finebaum said this on Sunday's College Football Playoff rankings reveal pre-show: "Quite frankly, being in SEC country, this is hard to say, but the Big Ten has been the best conference in college football this year."

Finebaum better have his phone lines open Monday. Phyllis from Mulga is going to have something to say.

This wasn't just some ESPN talking head firing off a hot take for attention, but rather the network's voice of the SEC conceding that the league he wrote the book "My Conference Can Beat Your Conference" about is no longer the nation's best. Hours later, the CFP selection committee confirmed Finebaum's theory with a list of final rankings and bowl pairings indicative of the Big Ten's impressive 2015 season.

Starting with No. 3 Michigan State, which won college football's only de facto play-in game to the playoff on Championship Saturday and will now face Alabama in a Cotton Bowl semifinal on New Year's Eve, the Big Ten laid claim to five teams in the committee's final Top 25, including three in the Top Seven.

Most notably, No. 5 Iowa, which lost to the Spartans in Saturday night's Big Ten title game, will play No. 6 Stanford in the Rose Bowl, while No. 7 Ohio State will take on No. 8 Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl on New Year's Day.

The SEC, meanwhile, while also boasting five Top 25 teams in the final rankings, is currently the home of just one Top 10 team, with No. 12 Ole Miss being the league's second-highest-ranked team behind No. 2 Alabama.

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With No. 13 Northwestern (Outback Bowl vs. Tennessee) and No. 14 Michigan (Citrus Bowl vs. Florida) each heading to noteworthy bowl games against SEC opponents, this winter will give the Big Ten no shortage of opportunities to continue to prove its superiority over the conference that won seven consecutive national titles from 2006-12.

Of course, getting to these games is just half the battle. In order to truly stake its claim as college football's top league, the Big Ten is going to have to make the most of the coming weeks.

Just as the Buckeyes did a year ago, beating Alabama in the semifinals before cruising past Oregon in the national title game, it will be the Spartans who will have the most to gain this bowl season. As the Big Ten's playoff representative, Michigan State will be tasked with once again taking down the Crimson Tide, a tall task for a Spartans team already considered a nine-point underdog, per Odds Shark.

If Michigan State can do that, it will meet the winner of the Orange Bowl semifinal between No. 1 Clemson and No. 4 Oklahoma in the CFP championship. And if the Spartans can win there, a new conference national title streak will have begun.

Only Michigan State won't be able to assert its conference's dominance alone, needing help, most notably, from the Hawkeyes and Ohio State. Iowa's 12-1 record and Top Five ranking after starting the season unranked was certainly unexpected, while the Buckeyes entered the season as college football's unanimous preseason favorite, before a Nov. 21 loss to the Spartans pushed them out of the playoff picture.

After rebounding with a 42-13 win over Michigan in its regular-season finale, Ohio State can truly legitimize the merits of its season with a win over the Fighting Irish—especially if its lone loss proves to have come against a Michigan State team still in contention for a national title.

BRADLEY LEEB/Associated Press

"This is an exceptional group that came up a few seconds short in a game against a very good team," Buckeyes head coach Urban Meyer said of his team. "You finish what you start. You're 11-1. Let's go find a way to win our 12th game."

With the Spartans in position to make a statement in the playoff, Iowa and Ohio State in national showcases, Michigan and Northwestern's bowls will provide head-to-head matchups against the SEC, as will Penn State's appearance in the TaxSlayer Bowl against Georgia.

Altogether, 10 teams from the Big Ten have already been announced for bowl games this season, giving the league ample opportunities to make its case as college football's best.

Last winter, the conference took a positive step forward with a combined 6-5 record in bowl games, including the Buckeyes' run to the national title.

This year, the Big Ten can make an even bigger statement. Although, one could argue that Finebaum's words already did just that.

Ben Axelrod is Bleacher Report's Big Ten lead writer. You can follow him on Twitter, @BenAxelrod. Unless noted otherwise, all quotes were obtained firsthand.