Before Urban Meyer was leading the Ohio State football program to a national championship, he was someone Buckeye fans hated. Meyer led the Florida Gators to a national championship victory over the Ohio State Buckeyes in the 2006 season. That was one of Ohio State's best teams, too.
A few years later, Meyer was leading the Buckeyes and helped win a national championship for them, as well. Meyer coached in both the SEC and the Big Ten for a number of years. His Florida team was part of what kept the SEC as the dominant conference for so long.
Now, the script has flipped. The Big Ten has won the last three national championships, including Ohio State winning in 2024. It is pretty clear that the Big Ten is now the best conference in the country. Meyer agrees and gave a definitive reason as to why that is.
Former Ohio State coach Urban Meyer gives big reason why the Big Ten is superior to the SEC
While appearing on The Script, Meyer talked to former Ohio State players Cardale Jones and Beanie Wells. He explained why he believes the Big Ten is now the dominant conference in college football.
"I don't believe the Big Ten was very serious back in 2012...You have to give Penn State credit. They got real serious. The Wovlerines got real serious. Other teams in that conference got real serious. You go in there now with Big Noon, and some of these environments are fantastic. Go ask how the boys are doing in Bloomington, Indiana. They got real serious about the game of football. Illinois, they got real serious. I think the Big Ten, and there's a lot of credit to go around, the Big Ten got real serious about the game of football."
Meyer mentioned that he didn't think other programs were serious when he first got to Ohio State in 2012. He didn't think other stadiums were hard to play in. That has clearly changed in the last decade. NIL has also been a big advantage for the conference, as donors have been able to get involved.
Ohio State was the catalyst to better conference play
The only program that hasn't faced a swoon in the Big Ten is Ohio State. The Buckeyes win, no matter what decade it is. They were the cream of the crop in the Big Ten before Meyer got to Columbus. Their elevated level of play over the years forced other programs to be better if they wanted to compete.
Ryan Day is keeping Ohio State at that high level. Winning the national title in 2024 keeps them at the top of the conference. Indiana is right there with them heading into this season. The depth of the conference has clearly gotten better around the Buckeyes.
The Big Ten is going to crush the SEC this year, as well. It should be a good year for the Buckeyes, even though they have a much tougher schedule than they did a year ago.
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