I agree, the SEC is down this year. But every conferencve is down this year.
The Big East and Big XII are a joke, with the exception of Texas.
The PAC 10 has its usual one good team and two decent teams (yes, Oregon is only decent and would have at least 3 losses if they played in the SEC, ACC or Big Ten).
The ACC started out strong, and then took a dive. With the exception of VT and Miami - no one else is consistent at all.
The Big Ten is down this year, considering that Michigan State, Purdue, Wisconsin and Iowa fell off the map once the real season started. Michigan was overrated as usual, and Ohio State was disappointing until now. Combine that with the fact that Penn State faced OSU during their funk, and it's hard to get a grasp on how good anyone in the conference really is.
Meanwhile the SEC turned upside down - Tennessee lost to Vanderbilt, South Carolina beat Florida, Alabama got exposed by Auburn. It appears that instead of being a truly deep conference this year, it is a rebuilding year. Too many new coaches, too many changes, and teams only playing one half. Auburn, LSU & Georgia are the only really good teams this year (in fact, LSU is only good for 30 minutes, but that seems to somehow be enough). Alabama has no offense, and everyone else has something that keeps them inconsistent.
Still, I think from top to bottom, the SEC is still the best this year. We'll still get to see how an average Florida stacks up to a disappointing (but Atlantic Champ) FSU and how Georgia plays GT (who just upset Miami).
I would put LSU, Auburn, Georgia, Florida & Alabama against the top five from any other conference.
The teams in a conference can only win half their games overall. Even the botton of the Big Ten won the majority of their non-conference games. Between the 11 teams, the entire conference lost only 6 games. Only three games to teams not in the top 10.