[lots of other words] The SEC isn't way ahead of the Big 12, but it's clearly better.
I don’t really have any issues with this statement. If I had to rank the P5 conferences I would not hesitate to put SEC at the top and Pac 12 at the bottom. Big 10, Big 12, and ACC are a bit tougher to clearly differentiate.
My main point is we have such little good data to asses relative strengths among conferences. You could argue the Big 12 defectors are the best measure we have relative to the Big 12, but even that has been all over the place.
In either case, if the question is whether a conference is overhyped, National title appearances are one of the worst benchmarks IMO.
National title appearances? Maybe, but when you put it into context, it certainly paints a clearer picture.
In the past 12 seasons, the SEC has had 13 NCG appearances.
5 different SEC schools have played in the NCG in the past 10 seasons (including this season).
5 different SEC schools have won national titles in the past 20 seasons, and GA is playing to become the sixth.
The idea that the SEC is Bama and everyone else doesn't hold water. Obviously Bama is on another level, but even if you take away Alabama, no conference has won more hardware. It's a bad benchmark if it's a single team carrying the water, but that really isn't the case.