NEW ORLEANS– The Big Ten and the Southeastern Conference has always been compared to each other in the battle for supremacy in college football. But it hasn’t been much of a competition
The SEC have won seven of the past eight BCS national championships.
The last time the Big Ten won was 2003 when Ohio State defeated Miami in double overtime at the Fiesta Bowl.
With that in mind, fourth ranked Ohio State has a chance to restore some dignity to their conference when the Buckeyes play top ranked, SEC champion Alabama here Thursday night in the national semi-finals at the Sugar Bowl.
“I think it’s just a great opportunity,” Ohio State coach Urban Meyer said. “I think the players, the one thing sometimes we’ll talk more about coaches than players and that’s not the case in this game. Alabama’s recruited and they develop their players very well. So has the full attention of our players, which is most important. But there’s a history between Coach (Nick) Saban and myself and I made the point to our players – I hope they say it about us, too – that every phase is on point.
“It’s not one of those things, boy, it’s a great offensive machine and very little defense. And it’s probably what people say, I hope. We’re very well balanced, as are they. I think we’re one of the top offenses in the country. Certainly they are. We’re much better than we have been on defense. We’re getting better. On special teams we’re very good. So those are two teams that are pretty well rounded. And that’s the first thing you think about when you face an Alabama team.”
Meyer is making history in both leagues.
He won two BCS national championships as the head coach at Florida, beating Ohio State, 41-14, in the 2006 title game in Glenville in a game where there was a noticeable difference between the two conferences in pure speed and talent on both sides of the ball. And, since arriving at Ohio State in 2012, he has coached the Buckeyes to a 12-0 season when the program was on probation, won his first 24 games and then rolled to his first Big Ten title this season with a 59-0 victory over Wisconsin at the Big Ten title game in Indianapolis.
Meyer has won 75 percent of his game as a head coach. But he can still see the difference between his program and Alabama.
Nick Saban is arguably the best coach in college football, winning four national championships, three at Alabama and one at LSU, He has the best depth and talent in the country.
Saban was 2-1 against Meyer when Meyer he was at Florida. The Gators defeated ‘Bama, 31-20, in the 2008 SEC championship game. but when the two coaches met in the same game the following year, the Tide won 32-12. In 2010, top-ranked ‘Bama dominated Florida, 31-6, at Bryant-Denny Stadium. Meyer took a leave of absence for health reasons following the season. Saban is 4-0 against the Big Ten since he has been at Alabama, beating Penn State twice, Michigan State in the 2011 Capitol One Bowl and Michigan in the season opening 2012 Cowboy Bowl in Arlington, Tex.
This game is not only important to Big Ten prestige, but also in terms of what Meyer is trying to establish at Ohio State. .
“First my reaction is that’s none of our business, but it is our business,” Meyer said. “And it is big. But that doesn’t change if we’re going to practice a little harder today for the Big Ten. We’re responsible for Ohio State. But it is important as is every bowl game. There’s one way to change perception, not talk about it, go play very well. Recruit very well, play very well and perception’s changed. And I go back to ’06 when the Big Ten was king – top of the – you know, the Pac 12 is great football. Big 12, ACC won a championship and there’s a team, Florida State hasn’t lost a game in two years. So I think it’s great conversation. I think there’s a lot of truth to it. But the Big Ten, this is a great opportunity not just for Ohio State but all the bowl teams to do very well.
If anything, it will be a test of whether the Big Ten has a team capable of competing against the SEC in big game situations. That means matching Alabama’s perceived advantage in speed.
“I think the gap’s closing a little bit,” Meyer said. “I think when I was a head coach at Bowling Green, I believed speed wins. Obviously the other intangibles of toughness and character and perseverance and the time tested qualities of a good football team, good football player, will never change.
“However, the game is getting faster. That was I’d say back in 2001 when I first became a head coach that that was the days of playing in a box, that’s normally not what an offensive football gives the defenses trouble. So we wanted to spread the field and try to recruit as much speed as possible. And we did that at Florida.
“I made the comment about Florida being the fastest team in the country. I’m not sure there’s a way to measure that, but we were pretty fast. We’re doing that here. We’re getting faster. Are we SEC speed in certain positions? We certainly are. But that’s all relative. We’ll find out. But there’s no question that speed is maybe a defining point or in the conversation of SEC, when you hear the front seven on defense, I’ve heard that for years, that there’s a lot of truth to that. The front seven in the SEC, now is that – our front seven is pretty good, too. They’re faster than we have been when we first got here. And that’s certainly – when we go out recruiting, the days of having a slow defensive lineman or linebackers that can’t play in space, those days are gone. We’re getting faster and that process never ends.”
Meyer has made pilgrimages into the deep south to upgrade his speed and neutralize Alabama’s perceived edge in quickness– beating out Alabama for 6-5, 280 pound franchise defensive tackle Joey Bosa from Ft. Lauderdale and sophomore safety Vonn Bell and freshman linebacker Raekwon McMillan, a pair of five-star prospects from Georgia.
“We have quite a few fast guys on our team,”.Ohio State tight end Jeff Heurerman said. “I don;t really pay a whole lot of attention to that or talk about the SEC vs. the Big Ten. All four teams are good football teams with strengths and weaknesses and anyone can beat anyone on any given day. You just hae to come out and execute your game plan.”
