Urban Meyer says the Big Ten has overtaken the SEC, and USC’s move raises the stakes

Urban Meyer’s view of college football’s current hierarchy is blunt: he believes the Big Ten has passed the SEC, at least among the sport’s upper tier of championship contenders. The comment, reported by Yahoo Sports, frames the shift as more than perception, arguing that recent on-field outcomes have moved the balance.

Meyer’s rationale also matches how conference realignment is being sold to recruits and fans. In separate coverage of Meyer’s remarks, he pointed to the Big Ten’s ability to land and develop elite talent, crediting additions such as Oregon and the broader commitment by high-end programs to recruiting. That “upper-echelon” emphasis is the difference, in his telling, between a conference that merely competes and one that is routinely collecting the sport’s biggest trophies.

The timing of that argument matters because the Big Ten’s recent championship run is no longer an isolated spike. The Associated Press reported that Indiana finished as the No. 1 team in the final AP Top 25 after winning the College Football Playoff title, making it the third straight Big Ten national champion year, after Ohio State in 2024 and Michigan in 2023. In other words, the claim that the Big Ten is winning “at the level” of its marquee programs aligns with what the sport has delivered on the biggest stage.

USC’s decision to join the Big Ten is what turns this debate into a scoreboard problem. USC formally became a Big Ten member in August 2024, and the university framed the move as positioning the Trojans for long-term competitiveness in a conference now considered national by footprint and by recruiting reach. That matters because, in a world where “conference strength” is being measured by playoff outcomes, USC is entering the room at the exact moment the Big Ten’s reputation is being validated by results.

The practical question is how quickly USC can play like a program that belongs at the top of a conference that has recently produced consecutive championship-caliber teams. Meyer’s comments, as described by Yahoo Sports, suggest the standard should not be “competitive,” but “capable of winning at the highest level” against peers like Indiana, Ohio State, and Oregon. USC’s first years in the league will therefore be judged through a different lens than it would have been if the SEC were still setting the ceiling.

For college football’s title picture, the implications extend beyond USC. If Meyer’s assessment is right, the Big Ten becomes the league that can repeatedly field multiple teams with both the talent and the coaching continuity required for playoff runs, which changes how matchups are evaluated and how conference championship games influence the bracket. If his assessment is wrong, the SEC will still have its argument, and the Big Ten’s success will look more like a trend that is cyclical rather than structural.