I am a huge anti-Big Ten guy but this is correct. In the early Nineties, the SEC was far from dominant and Alabama was not very good.
I live in Baton Rouge and well recall that LSU had 8 losing seasons in 11 years until Nick Saban fell into their lap. Ohio State was bad under John Cooper, Oklahoma was bad under John Blake, etc...
Everything in sports is cyclical and (unfortunately, lol) Big Ten schools like Michigan, Nebraska and yes...even Penn State will be back in the top tier with the right coaching hires.