with regards to quality depth & based on final rankings - 2013 is the 7th best season, out of 25, in East history (rankings from Final AP Poll)

...twice, the East has finished with 4 Top-25 ranked teams.

2001 = #3 Florida 10 wins, #4 Tennessee 11 wins, #13 Carolina 9 wins, #22 Georgia 8 wins (sum = 42)
2012 = #5 Georgia 12 wins, #8 Carolina 11 wins, #9 Florida 11 wins, #23 Vanderbilt 9 wins (sum = 45)

...seasons with 3 Top-25 ranked East teams

1998 = #1 Tennessee 13 wins, #5 Florida 10 wins, #14 Georgia 9 wins (rankings sum = 20)
1997 = #4 Florida 10 wins, #7 Tennessee 11 wins, #10 Georgia 10 wins (sum = 21)
2007 = #2 Georgia 11 wins, #12 Tennessee 10 wins, #13 Florida 9 wins (sum = 27)
1992 = #8 Georgia 10 wins, #10 Florida 9 wins, #12 Tennessee 9 wins (sum = 30)
2013 = #4 Carolina 11 wins, #5 Missouri 12 wins, #24 Vanderbilt 9 wins (sum = 33)
1999 = #9 Tennessee 9 wins, #12 Florida 9 wins, #16 Georgia 8 wins (sum = 37)

** 2001 (20) would tie 1998 as the best finish using just the highest 3 ranked East teams. 2012 (22) would finish between 1997 & 2007 using just the highest 3 ranked East teams.

*** the East has finished with just 2 Top-25 ranked teams (even highly ranked) multiple times, while quality depth of the division was down.

This post was edited on 9/6/17 at 9:03 am