Urban Meyer won three national titles as a college football head coach, but the game is already very different from his time at Florida and Ohio State.
The ways NIL and the transfer portal have shifted the sport’s landscape were hard to predict, and the Fox Sports college football analyst is among those who misread how they’ve changed it.
“I misfired on the whole conversation about NIL and transfer portal,” Meyer said during an appearance on The Herd with Colin Cowherd. “I thought the rich would get richer. What it’s done is make parity in college football.”
“I misfired on the whole conversation about NIL and transfer portal. I thought the rich would get richer. What it’s done is make parity in college football.” – Urban Meyer https://t.co/URKSjxckXE
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) October 19, 2026
Parity is perhaps a bit strong. Yes, Indiana transformed from a basement-dweller to national champion in two years. But for the most part, the same traditional powerhouse programs are still at the top of the heap. Things are a little more crowded, and “second-tier programs” like Texas Tech, SMU, and UCLA have a chance to rise quickly. But at the end of the day, we’re still mostly talking about the same Big Ten, SEC, Big 12, and ACC schools dominating the landscape.
Another aspect of the game that’s rapidly changing from Meyer’s day is the expanding College Football Playoff. When he led Ohio State to a national title in 2015, the CFP included four teams. By all accounts, it will have 24 teams starting next season.
Meyer doesn’t sound too opposed to the decision, though he does have one concern about what the program could lose.
“At first I couldn’t stand the idea,” Meyer said on The Triple Option. “I just thought you would dilute the product, but what I’m witnessing this year and we’re all learning is that the parity is unbelievable.
“The only concern I have, and I’ll keep saying this as long as I’m around, those who say that conference championship games are not important, I will say never played in it, never coached in it, and never won a ring. I think conference championship games are one of the most exciting things that have ever happened in my lifetime and certainly for my players.”
To make room for the expanded first round, conference championship games will likely go away, which changes the calculus in ways beyondjust being able to say you won. And as much as college football has changed since Meyer last coached there, the ripple effects of the latest seismic shift are only just beginning to be felt.
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