CFB analyst issues a word of caution to SEC after Ohio State’s win over Notre Dame in National Championship Game

College football analyst Brandon Marcello of 247 Sports has a warning for the SEC following Ohio State's victory over Notre Dame in the National Championship Game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.

Earlier this week, the Buckeyes trounced the Fighting Irish 34-23 to establish themselves as college football's top team of the season. However, with the landscape of college football changing with things like NIL and the new transfer portal rule, Marcello warned that Big Ten conference schools up north, with their deep booster money pockets, could continue to dominate college football for the foreseeable future.

"Times have changed. The SEC's days of having exclusivity to the athletes in the south are over," Marcello said. "Those kids now are going up north even more than they have in the past. And I think that will continue. And what's really going to hurt the SEC in my opinion even further, potentially, is that all the money in NIL, with boosters and everything, is up north in these Big 10 schools.

"They have the bigger boosters, they have the bigger NIL collectives than anybody in the SEC. And that is what's going to attract this talent even more so over these next two to three years.

"Because now everybody is paying $20 to $22 million a year, and then on top of that people are going to be paying NIL money on top of that, and the Big Ten schools have the deeper pockets, the bigger donors, and I think that could potentially sink the SEC even further," he added.

A closer look at the most valuable college sports programs

According to a recent report from CNBC, three of the top 10 most valuable college sports programs reside in the Big Ten conference. The SEC still leads the pack, taking up six of those spots in the top 10.

However, Ohio State unsurprisingly sits at the top spot, valued at $1.32 billion, hauling in $280 million in revenue. The fact that the Buckeyes recently captured the CFB national title should lend some credence to Marcello's point.

At No. 2 is the University of Texas in Austin, which is valued at $1.28 billion, generating $271 million in revenue. With a young star like Arch Manning gearing to take up the helm at Texas, now that Quinn Ewers has declared for the NFL draft, expect that number to rise over the next several years.

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This year's runner-up in the College Football Playoff, Notre Dame, sits at No. 6 on CNBC's list, valued at $969 million with $224 million in revenue. They also remain the sole ACC team on the list, while the SEC and Big Ten make up the rest of the group.