Urban Meyer stresses defensive line presence for USC in the Big Ten: 'You have to have those guys'

There are mixed opinions on how good USC will be in the Big Ten under Lincoln Riley. Former Ohio State coach and current Fox Sports analyst Urban Meyer isn’t sold on the Trojans having much success as they first come into the league.

Meyer believes USC has some nice pieces, but there’s one important area in particular that concerns him.

“At the end of the day, you have to have those guys on the defensive line,” Urban Meyer said Thursday on The Herd with Colin Cowherd. “I’ve coached against USC. I was on the sideline when they played Utah for the Pac-12 championship. And they did not look like [a top Big Ten team]. They looked like it at quarterback and skill, but we all know what happens when it gets to November. The quarterbacks and the skill, that’s not what wins it for you.”

Urban Meyer feels that USC needs to improve its defensive line talent in order to win big in the Big Ten. Meyer, who won three national championships, has always been a big believer that games are won in the trenches.

“When I walk on a practice field, and I used to do this when I was a head coach, I’d walk in pregame, and I was so mesmerized – because I was an offensive coach. I would stare at that defensive line,” Meyer said. “And at the end of the day, if you do not have that, it’s not going to happen.”

Meyer added that USC and Lincoln Riley could be in for a really tough year in their first year in the Big Ten.

“As a matter of fact, I think if you get exposed in a really good conference without a defensive front, that’s going to be a really bad year for you,” Meyer said. “And the way I was raised, the way I was raised in this great game, and I do it now whenever I go to games for Fox to broadcast a game, the first thing I do when I flip on that film is I stare at the defensive line. And if you’ve got the Chase Young, Nick Bosa, Joey Bosas, etc., those kind of guys, things are going to look really good for you.”

Finally, Meyer used Georgia as a program that has had good quarterback play, talent around its QB and also really good offensive and defensive lines. The Bulldogs have won two of the past three national titles, and they started off last year 12-0, before falling in the SEC Championship game.

“You look at Georgia over the years, they’ve had really good quarterbacks. They had Stetson Bennett when they won a national championship,” Meyer said. “But that’s not what won [for] them.”