Outside of the top 3 maybe 4 programs yeah the SEC is pretty weak. Against the other P5 schools the conference as a whole was 9-6 with UGA having 2 of those wins. 7 of the 14 teams lost their OOC P5 games.
This is a good observation. The theory that "a rising tide raises all boats"...no pun intended...doesn't really apply here. There has been a lot of coaching turnover in the SEC over the past few years; COVID; NIL; transfer portal; conference realignment; etc, etc. End result being that Bama and UGA have pretty much held sway over their respective divisions, and all the new kids on the block (again, no pun intended) are trying to get to that level. It will sort itself out over the next season or so, but you have to figure that UT's stock is rising in the East, and I think Arkansas may be the sleeper in the West. At the top, the SEC rules the proverbial roost. Top to bottom, the SEC is average to above average when compared to the other P5 conferences.
And after years, decades, eons even of being an SEC fan in bowl season, I am finally swinging over to the Dark Side. I'm a VFL, 24/7, 365...and a UGA fan 364 days out of the year. I'll still pull for those two teams, but from this point forward if the SEC goes 2-12 in bowl games I'm fine with that, so long as UT and UGA are the two that won. Bama winning does absolutely nothing to help UT, especially in recruiting. So, even though I took Bama against UC, and I think they mop the field with the Bearcats, I hope UC wins by 3 touchdowns.
Go Vols. Blow up them Boilermakers.