re: SEC might have a little competion

Edit: @Ross

That is definitely the kind of reasoning that people use to support the idea that Ohio State was not as good as they were generally believed to be before the title game. But I think it is because of the lopsided result of that title game that people have revised their perception of that team and its competition so that it is probably significantly more negative than the reality.

I say that because if you actually do compare who beat whom, there is little reason to believe that Ohio State was anywhere near as bad, relative to Florida, as they were in the title game.

Michigan lost to USC by 14, but that was the same USC team that beat the SEC runner-up on the road by a much wider margin than Florida did. Michigan also beat Vanderbilt by a much wider margin than Florida did and beat Notre Dame, at Notre Dame, by roughly the same margin that LSU did in the Sugar Bowl. Penn State beat Tennessee by a wider margin than Florida did.

I am not saying Ohio State was the best that year or that comparing common opponents is always an accurate measure of relative strength, just that the disparity between Florida and Ohio State was probably not nearly as great as the result of 1 game played 1-2 months after the regular season might lead someone to believe.