Mark Sanchez Says USC 'On Par' With SEC Schools: Fans React

Former USC star Mark Sanchez is pleased with the current state of the Trojans’ football program.

In fact, during a recent appearance on The Herd with Colin Cowherd, he said USC is now “on par” with the dominant football programs of the SEC.

“It’s just nice that the playing field’s even,” Sanchez said. “You can go compete with these SEC schools, and now we’re on par with them.”

By “on par” with SEC programs, Sanchez means the Southern California university has the capital to compete with any program when it comes to NIL bidding wars.

“Although these [NIL] collectives are created so that everybody gets a little piece of the action — I don’t know where this ever stops. These bidding wars and stuff from players and guaranteeing certain amounts of NIL money and ‘if I’m unhappy I’m going to hit the portal because I’m not guaranteed enough.’ I don’t know. It’s the Wild, Wild West right now. But USC is fishing out some cash and figures it out,” he added.

The college football world took to Twitter to react to this bold statement.

“Ehh, are you though?” one fan asked.

“It will still be hard for U$C to compete with Oregon and Utah.. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,”another added.

“LOL. ‘Pay for play really evens the playing field, finally providing equal opportunity,’ said the multi-millionaire booster for the University of Southern California,” another said.

The reason for Sanchez’s hype centers around the arrival of former Oklahoma head coach Lincoln Riley. With his arrival, Riley also brought an exciting class of recruits/transfers to LA.

“That dude, he’s awesome,” the former New York Jets QB said. “He’s got some juice to him. He’s got a magnetic personality, you want to learn from him, you want to listen to him. Guys gravitate to him and it’s obvious.”

During Sanchez’s collegiate years, the Trojans were no doubt among the premier programs in the country. In 2008, he led his team to a 12-1 record and a Rose Bowl victory behind 3,207 passing yards and 34 touchdowns.

USC will not take on any SEC opponents during the 2022 regular season.