This Ain't It: CBS Uses Classic SEC Intro Music To Lead Into Rutgers-Northwestern

It's music to our ears. Literally.

For years, nothing could get a college football fan pumped for a Saturday Down South quite like that iconic SEC on CBS theme song. So imagine our horror when our hallowed tune wafts through the TV speakers before a Big Ten matchup. On a Sunday.

Between this and the new College GameDay theme song, is nothing sacred anymore?!

In 2019, CBS declined to renew its rights to SEC football. That package will ultimately go to ESPN beginning in 2024. Instead, CBS reached a deal to televise Big Ten games — hence the transferring of the theme music.

Granted, Rutgers-Northwestern isn't the first time CBS has used the song in a non-SEC matchup. And they warned us it was coming more than a year ago. But that doesn't make it sting any less.

It just feels gross. Like proposing to your new girlfriend with your ex-wife's ring.

The song is synonymous with the SEC — a Pavlovian signal that lures southerners to their TVs with a cold beers and full hearts every fall Saturday.

And as a Tennessee alumna, I know I'm a conference snob. But the Big Ten simply isn't worthy of our sacred tune. I mean, Rutgers and Northwestern?

So kudos to whoever made this better, more suitable highlight reel featuring our friends up north.

I know I'm not alone in my disdain for this.

So let's head to X (formerly known as Twitter) for a quick pulse check.

Is it realistic or even fair for me to expect CBS to ditch its epic theme song just because it switched conferences? No. Am I going to boycott the network and all of its games in protest? Also no.

So like the rest of my SEC friends, I'm going to sit here and take it.

But I'm not gonna like it.