I agree, but with the new playoff in place, I feel like you're gonna see a lot more of this. Sure, the CCG is an intra-league game, but it's still (in theory) the two top teams in each respective conference. Throw is the first "round" of playoffs and the NCG game and you have 3 straight marquee games (2 OOC) for the conference champion. Sucks that we'll now longer get the killer weekends in September, but I guess we'll have to settle for interesting confernece slates and some tit weekends in December and January.
But how is playing in our own conference going to get us ready to play an SEC team come playoff time? We need to play against good different offenses.
Please don't tell me you are using the offenses of the SEC as a benchmark. Defenses, particularly on the D-Line is the biggest difference, not the offenses.
Look at Urban Meyer as a good thing for the B1G. He is building OSU as he built Florida. So if anyone in the B1G wants to win the conference, they are also going to have to build a more SEC like team. And teams are too damned focused on the Rose Bowl instead of the Title game.
Also keep in mind the main reason for the SEC's image is the title games. The idea that they are top to bottom better than everyone else is a fallacy. Yes LSU and Bama are big dogs right now, but the rest of the league is hardly the same. Remember Kentucky, Missouri, Auburn and the like still play in that conference.
It's funny that you mention Cam was the vein of a program that HASN'T won a national championhip in the last 3 years...
Essentially, you killed your own point; that a MNC team can go from first to worst in such a short span of time in the SEC actually more clearly shows the depth of the conference.
FIFY.