If there’s somebody who knows both the SEC and Big Ten well, it’s Urban Meyer.
The famed head coach won national championships in both power conferences, first in the SEC at Florida and then in the Big Ten at Ohio State. Of course, there was also his NFL tenure with the Jacksonville Jaguars, but we won’t talk about that right now.
With the calendar hitting August, conference superiority propaganda is reaching a fever pitch. In spite of being on the wrong end of the scoreboard in recent years, SEC talking heads are still trying to hold on to their mythical stature as the kings of the sport. And of course, the microscope is always on SEC rightsholder ESPN in their role in propping up the conference. Any notion of impropriety or bias isn’t helped when SEC Network staffers are putting out easily disproven stats in an attempt to gaslight fans.
But turnabout is fair play. And Urban Meyer works for Fox Sports who is the central rightsholder of the Big Ten. So it wasn’t a surprise at all to see a former Big Ten coach go on a Big Ten partner with The Herd to talk about how great the Big Ten is against the SEC.
But Meyer took it a step further by not just saying that the programs in the Big Ten are now better, but so too are the fans and gameday experiences.
“The teams weren’t close. The venues weren’t close. The passion of the fans wasn’t close. It’s caught up. Last year it bypassed the SEC.”@colincowherd & @CoachUrbanMeyer talk Curt Cignetti & the Big Ten surpassing the SEC pic.twitter.com/ApdgLD1N9n
— Herd w/Colin Cowherd (@TheHerd) August 3, 2026
“The difference is the athleticism up front. That’s always been the SEC advantage. And I would like to say that Ohio State was the first team that brought the SEC mentality in recruiting to the Big Ten. But obviously James Franklin was a great recruiter, spent time in the SEC. And then Jim Harbaugh is a hell of a recruiter. So those three teams started looking very SECish near the end of my career. Then you add Oregon, USC, Washington, and UCLA not so much as far as their talent right now. But in the last three years, when the Wolverines won the national title, that’s when I said wait a minute, those are SEC-looking teams,” Meyer said.
“But I want to add this Colin, also the Big Ten stadiums are very SEC-like. They were not, when I was hired in 2012, it wasn’t even close. The teams weren’t close, the venues weren’t close, the passion of the fans wasn’t close. It’s caught up. And like you said, last year it bypassed the SEC.”
It’s fascinating that Urban Meyer is helping push forward the Big Ten narrative while Nick Saban is on the opposite side hyping up the SEC side. Both Saban and Meyer coached in both leagues, of course. But Meyer is at least willing to admit that the SEC was definitely on top before the Big Ten caught up.
The results on-field can’t really be debated as far as CFP records, bowl records, and titles go in the NIL era. But if there is one area where SEC fans can hang on to their argument of strength in numbers, stadium experiences and gameday crowds might be the one. Would you rather spend a Saturday in Piscataway, New Jersey and West Lafayette, Indiana or Oxford, Missisippi and Gainesville, Florida?
About Matt Yoder