SEC supremacy in football is over, Urban Meyer declares

The days when the SEC would just run over everyone in college football have come to an end, a former SEC legend has said.

Urban Meyer believes the days when the SEC dominated college football are over. / Nathan Giese/Avalanche-Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Urban Meyer played a huge role in the SEC’s modern domination of college football, but the former national champion head coach believes the conference’s supremacy in the sport has come to an end.

For now, at least.

“The question is, is the SEC’s dominance over? It is. It’s over,” Meyer said in comments to The Triple Option Podcast.

“Now, next year’s another year. But for [at least the last] two years, it’s over.”

That’s quite a statement from a man who helped establish the SEC’s reputation in the 21st century, winning two national championships at Florida.

But watching as Notre Dame outmanned and overpowered SEC power and recent two-time national champion Georgia in the Sugar Bowl convinced Meyer of that fact.

“The reality is, let’s go back to the visual eye test of what happened, and the [question is], ‘Is the SEC run over?’” he said.

“It is. And you can simply watch it [in the game]. Next year’s a different year, but for 2023 and 2024, [SEC teams were] non-factors. You’ve got Texas in it right now, but are we really calling Texas a blueblood of the SEC in its first year? And they’re an underdog against Ohio State.”

Tennessee’s ugly 42-17 loss to Ohio State in the first-round playoff game was the first of some concerning results for the SEC in this year’s postseason matchups.

South Carolina then lost to Illinois, Texas A&M fell to USC, Oklahoma lost by a point to Navy, and, perhaps most surprisingly, Alabama was upset as big favorites against a Michigan team that won 7 games and was down several key players.

But, as Meyer noted, the Longhorns are still in the mix, set for a date against the Buckeyes in the Cotton Bowl semifinal game this week.

That is, as 5.5 point underdogs, according to FanDuel Sportsbook.

Still, the SEC has enjoyed quite a run in recent memory, overpowering college football by winning 13 of the last 18 national championships since Meyer and the Gators won in 2006.

That included seven straight titles for the conference until the 2013 season.

Meyer won the first College Football Playoff national title with Ohio State in 2014, but after that the SEC won six of the next eight CFP championships.

“I was part of the SEC bandwagon, as well,” Meyer said.

“I coached in that conference and top to bottom, it wasn’t even close when I got to the Big Ten. Even [my wife], who watched the games, said, ‘What is this?.. The speed on the field doesn’t even look the same.’ And it wasn’t.”

Meyer believes conference realignment may have played a role in equalizing things nationally, but also a concerted effort on their part to step their game up.

“I think what’s happened is there’s been some additions, obviously Oregon, Washington, UCLA, and USC, but also people have really committed in the Big Ten,” he said.

“The upper echelon Big Ten conference schools have really jumped on recruiting. You saw the Wolverines last year were one of the most dominant programs of the last decade.

“The Buckeyes have the best roster, I don’t think it’s close, in college football. Penn State, that’s really put together a hell of a team. And then you have Illinois beating South Carolina, think about that.

“There’s a good argument now,” he said of the Big Ten.

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