It’s not every day you come across a sound clip like the one ESPN aired during a portion of the Southeastern Conference Media Days coverage Tuesday afternoon.

Paul Finebaum, usually the first person to come to the SEC’s rescue – whether warranted or not – was shockingly open in saying that the (football) conference was “overrated” and that he wasn’t even sure if it would have a representative in the College Football Playoff.

Needless to say, the social media uproar was fun to watch. Fans on both sides of the topic quickly made their voices heard.

@finebaum thank you for stating the truth, the SEC is overrated! Maybe people will start to realize.. — Rich Fisher (@Rich_Fisher8) July 14, 2015

Almost weird to hear Paul Finebaum call the SEC overrated this year, says there “may not be any” SEC teams in the Final Four this year — Trenton Duffer (@trenton_duffer) July 14, 2015

In Finebaum’s defense, the SEC has seemed down over the last couple of seasons in many people’s eyes. After winning seven consecutive national championships from 2006 to 2012, the ACC (FSU, 2013) and Big Ten (OSU, 2014) have won the last two. Ohio State seems to be the clear favorite heading into the 2015 season, and Alabama is the only team out of the SEC with realistic odds to win it all.

But the conference is never that far away from making its mark on the college football landscape with the talent these teams constantly bring to the table year in and year out. College football is all about winning, and it’s hard to win if you can’t recruit. And even after a couple disappointing seasons, the SEC still has five of the top 10 recruiting classes, and three of the top five, heading into next year’s Signing Day, according to 247Sports.