Was this a down year for the SEC?

The point was made a lot throughout the 2023 season: “The SEC isn’t as strong this year” “It’s Georgia and everyone else” “An SEC schedule doesn’t mean what it usually does this year” Etc etc. If you didn’t hear this, you probably weren’t listening close enough. But now that we can reflect on the season with every team from the SEC eliminated, a national champion not from the conference being crowned this Monday for the first time since 2018, and no national championship teams at all for the first time since 2015, were the arguments valid? The answer is a complicated one. You’d be foolish to a