Meyer says there’s no gap with SEC

Ohio State coach says conferences have become equal

Associated Press

CHICAGO

Ohio State coach Urban Meyer doesn’t just believe the Big Ten has closed the gap with the more heralded Southeastern Conference. He is convinced the race is a dead heat already.

“I don’t think there’s a gap at all,” Meyer said Monday at Big Ten media days. “I’ve coached in the SEC East when that was one of the strongest in the country. And I think the Big Ten East right now is every bit as strong as I can remember the SEC East,” where he won two national championships at Florida.

Sheer numbers suggest the Big Ten still has some work ahead of it.

The SEC dominated the Big Ten the last two seasons, when it won six of the eight meetings between them. Its average margin of victory was 23.8 points. Five of the wins were by 14 points or more.

The Big Ten won the other two games by a total of 36 points, largely the result of Michigan’s 41-7 rout of Florida in the 2016 Citrus Bowl.

The SEC was 2-1 in head-to-head matchups last season. The lone Big Ten success? Wisconsin 16, LSU 14.

“I thought recruiting, I was shocked at the disrespect the Big Ten had in 2012,” said Meyer, referring to his first season with the Buckeyes. “I don’t feel that at all anymore.

“I feel a great amount of respect nationally about the Big Ten. You sit and look at the national recruiting rankings and you see the Big Ten everywhere, all over the place, and that’s the way it should be.

“So there’s a lot of credit to be given, obviously to the administrations that invest in their programs and to the coaching staffs that are out there doing the work. And this is as tough a conference as there is.”

Speaking of tough, Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio vowed to re-establish a program rocked by tragedy and beset by disciplinary issues last season by using the same “inch by inch” philosophy that made Michigan State a championship contender.

“Sometimes you’re measured a little bit by how you handle the problems not just in all the good times,” Dantonio said. “We’ve had some good times and those are easy to stand up there and sing the fight song and put a hat on.

“Not as easy when you are going through these type of things,” he added, referring to last season. “But at the end of the day that’s why I was hired. I was hired to solve problems and that’s what we’re going to do.”

The season began under a cloud after former punter Mike Sadler died in a car crash a year ago that also took the life of Nebraska punter Sam Foltz. After wins versus Furman and at Notre Dame to open the season, the Spartans lost their next seven.

The team couldn’t overcome the losses of quarterback Connor Cook, as well as Aaron Burbridge, Jack Conklin and Shilique Calhoun. The offense also became predictable under coordinator Dave Warner, a favorite target of critics.

The turmoil took its toll and Michigan State finished 3-9 last year after three conference titles, six straight winning seasons, a playoff appearance and two New Year’s Day bowl games under Dantonio. Six times the defense allowed 30-or-more points in a game. Eight defensive linemen did not return from the previous season.

The offseason wasn’t much better: In June, three players were charged with criminal sexual conduct after a woman said she was raped and forced to perform oral sex in the bathroom of an on-campus apartment during a party in January. They were immediately dismissed and Dantonio joined athletic director Mark Hollis for an emotional news conference on a campus already reeling from allegations of sexual assault against Larry Nassar, a former MSU doctor who also worked for USA Gymnastics.

Players-only meetings became a regular feature after practices earlier this year. They were spurred, in part, by senior linebacker Jon Reschke’s decision to leave the team after what he termed “insensitive and totally regrettable” remarks about a teammate.

Members of the Spartans so-called “Eagle Council,” a rotating group of a dozen players selected by teammates to assume the leadership mantle, also began stressing individual accountability.