Urban Meyer knows a thing or 2 about SEC football.

While coaching the Florida Gators from 2005-2010, Meyer compiled a 65-15 overall record with 2 national championships in 2006 and 2008. He recruited many of the top players in the nation year-after-year in Gainesville. Meyer then took a year off from coaching only to return at Ohio State in the Big Ten. Meyer compiled an 83-9 record while coaching the Buckeyes from 2012-2018.

There’s always a debate around college football about which conference is the nation’s best, but the SEC usually comes out on top. It doesn’t sound too complicated for Meyer, who ranked the SEC as the top conference in college football.

“The word is attitude,” Meyer said, via 247Sports.com. “When I was in the SEC, the attitude was how to dominate. When you talk about college football, it’s about recruiting, and that’s all they talked about in the SEC. It’s about players; it’s about national championships; it’s about getting to the show. They didn’t care about anything else other than themselves. You kind of admire that. When I went to the Big Ten, I was kind of shocked. Everyone kind of recruited in their footprint. They didn’t step out and say national recruit and let’s talk about national championships. I was shocked by that. I think by 2014-15, the Big Ten (was) if not the best conference, they’re right there with the SEC. I think the Big Ten at the top can play with any team in the SEC. But top to bottom, the SEC is best why? Attitude. They don’t apologize for being great, and I have a lot of respect for that.”

Meyer is right — teams around the country can compete with SEC programs on any given Saturday; that’s just college football. However, the competitive edge and attitude (and culture) are what sets the SEC apart from all the rest.