Is Ohio State 'SEC Enough' to Beat Alabama in the College Football Playoff?

COLUMBUS, Ohio — If there's anybody north of the Bible Belt who's well-versed in the dominance of the Southeastern Conference, it's Urban Meyer.

After all, he's the one who started it.

It was eight years ago that Meyer jumpstarted the SEC's streak of seven consecutive national titles, claiming the first of his two crystal balls as the head coach of Florida.

From that day forward—after the Gators had shocked Ohio State with a 41-14 pummeling of the Buckeyes in the 2007 BCS National Championship Game—it was clear that something was a little different down South when it came to football.

"I'm not sure what 'SEC bias' is," Meyer said on Thursday. "You'd be hard-pressed to say that top to bottom, they're not the best league in the country."

Florida State snapped the SEC's national title reign a year ago with a win over Auburn, but as college football prepares for its first ever playoff, it's Alabama that finds itself as the nation's top team. The Crimson Tide have won three of the past five national championships, setting the standard for the rest of the sport to follow.

But as Alabama attempts to continue its dynasty, it's Meyer who will get the next shot at bringing it to an end.

Now the head coach at Ohio State, Meyer and his Buckeyes will square off with the Crimson Tide in Jan. 1's Sugar Bowl, which will double as a semifinal game for the national title.

Given the time—and success—that he found down South, Meyer knows that it will take a different brand than Big Ten football to knock off Nick Saban's Alabama squad.

"The defensive front seven is the overall difference-maker, but it's a little bit deeper than that," Meyer said of the differences between the Big Ten and SEC in 2012. "I think in overall athleticism, we're a little bit behind. But we're recruiting with that in mind."

Butch Dill/Associated Press

That sentiment has been backed up in the recruiting rankings, where the Buckeyes have landed three top-five classes since Meyer came to town.

That's shown up in Ohio State's recent dominance of the Big Ten, which has included a 24-0 regular-season conference record since the start of the 2012 season.

Beating up on the likes of Purdue and Michigan is one thing, but going toe-to-toe with the Crimson Tide? That's a totally different task. Does the Big Ten's best have what it takes to match up with the cream of the crop in college football?

Saban thinks so.

"Urban has always done a fantastic job at utilizing what his players do well," Saban said. "Their speed is one of the strengths of their team, in my opinion."

That's certainly been an area that Meyer has placed an emphasis on, expanding Ohio State's recruiting radius beyond the borders of the Buckeye State and to the likes of Texas, the northeast and, yes, the southeast.

Ohio State will always possess plenty of players from its own talent-rich state, but one glance at the Buckeyes' roster shows that this is far from your father's Ohio State squad.

Jay LaPrete/Associated Press

You'd be hard-pressed to find a key player on this year's Buckeyes team who wasn't wooed by a school from the SEC, as Meyer hasn't been afraid to go head-to-head with his former conference on the recruiting trail.

Meyer has been able to wrestle defensive end Joey Bosa (Alabama, Florida), running back Ezekiel Elliott (Missouri), cornerback Eli Apple (Alabama), safety Vonn Bell (Alabama, Tennessee), H-back Dontre Wilson (Texas A&M), running back Curtis Samuel (Florida, Tennessee) and linebacker Raekwon McMillan (Alabama, Georgia) away from the grasp of the SEC, while also keeping Ohioans Jalin Marshall (Tennessee) and Erick Smith (Alabama) away from the pull of America's best conference.

“We’re getting close,” Meyer said last national signing day. "We have to get our speed up with overall offensive skill, but where it was two years ago to where it is now is much different.”

But will that be enough?

After all, Saban has been recruiting for Alabama at an elite level since 2007, giving him a five-year head start on what Meyer is attempting to accomplish in Columbus.

While it's not like the OSU roster was devoid of talent before Meyer arrived, he is undeniably recruiting a different level of athlete for the Buckeyes—players who are more suited to take on an SEC opponent like the Crimson Tide.

After three years of proving themselves in the Big Ten, the Sugar Bowl will be the Buckeyes' first opportunity to measure themselves against the country's best. That's a challenge that Meyer is looking to take head-on.

"Alabama with what they've done the last five, six, seven years, they're the No. 1 program in America," Meyer said. "To take a shot and swing as hard as you possibly can...it's a very exciting time in Columbus, Ohio."

Ben Axelrod is Bleacher Report's Ohio State Lead Writer. You can follow him on Twitter @BenAxelrod. Unless noted otherwise, all quotes obtained firsthand. All statistics courtesy of cfbstats.com, and recruiting information courtesy of 247Sports.