re: Should the SEC stay at 8 conference games in order to preserve non-conference rivalries?

It should be 8 because all conference games equal out to a .500 record. More games will just lower the overall win% of the conference, make it appear weaker than it really is, and overall just make the conference look worse.

We got a good dose of this in 2020 with the all SEC game. Good SEC teams were unranked based completely on their record. Then those teams went into bowl games against ranked teams from weaker conferences and kicked the shite out of them.

Until voters and the committee can properly apply strength of schedule, rather than only when "records are equal", going to more SEC games will have negative consequences for the conference as a whole.