I ask that because I hear that belief all the time on local sports talk radio but what's happened during the BCS era in interconference games between BCS league teams just doesn't support that perception. Take the Pac 10's head to head performance vs. the SEC, for example. The Pac 10 is 10-7 and it's not because it's been some of the better teams in the Pac 10 playing some of the poorer teams in the SEC. In fact, if anything, it's been more the other way around.

Below are the results of BCS era (1998 - 2008) games between the PAC 10 and SEC. The conference record of each team is in parenthesis. For example: The last line under "PAC 10 WINS" indicates that, in 2007, California, which finished 3-6 in Pac 10 play, had a 45 - 31 win over Tennessee, which finished 6-3 in SEC play. Then there's a note to indicate that one of Tennessee's three losses was in the SEC championship game.

PAC 10 WINS

2006 USC (7-2) 50, Arkansas (7-2) 14* - One UA loss in SEC championship
2005 USC (8-0) 70*, Arkansas (2-6) 17
2003 USC (7-1) 23, Auburn (5-3) 0*
2002 USC (7-1) 24*, Auburn (5-3) 17
2008 UCLA (3-6) 27*, Tennessee (3-5) 24
2001 UCLA (4-4) 20, Alabama (4-4) 17*
2000 UCLA (3-5) 35*, Alabama (3-5) 24
2003 Oregon (5-3) 42, Mississippi State (1-7) 34*
2002 Oregon (3-5) 36*, Mississippi State (0-8) 13
2007 California (3-6) 45*, Tennessee (6-3) 31 - One UT loss in SEC championship

SEC WINS

2008 Georgia (6-2) 27, Arizona State (4-5) 10*
2005 LSU (7-2) 35, Arizona State (4-4) 31*
2006 LSU (6-2) 45*, Arizona (4-5) 3
2003 LSU (8-1) 59, Arizona (1-7) 13*
2006 Tennessee (5-3) 35*, California (7-2) 18
2006 Auburn (6-2) 40*, Washington State (4-5) 14
2004 LSU (6-2) 22*, Oregon State (5-3) 21

*-Home Team

SEC teams involved have a slightly better overall conference winning rate (0.579) than the Pac 10 teams do (0.549).

There were 3 games such that the Pac 10 team and the SEC team had identical records within their respective conferences. Pac 10 teams won all 3 of those games.

There were 5 games such that both the Pac 10 team and the SEC team had winning records in their own conferences. The Pac 10 was 3-2 in those games.

There were 4 games such that neither team finished with a winning record in its own conference. The Pac 10 was 4-0 in those games.

There were 7 games involving Pac 10 teams that finished with winning conference records. The Pac 10 was 5-2 in those games. In comparison, there were 11 games involving SEC teams that finished with winning conference records (i.e., more of the games involved the SEC's better teams than involved the Pac 10's better teams). The SEC was 7-4 in those games.

Pac 10 teams that did NOT finish with winning Pac 10 conference records went 5-5 against the SEC. SEC teams that did not finish with winning SEC conference records went 0-6 against the Pac 10.

Pac 10 teams other than USC went 6-7 vs. the SEC. SEC teams other than LSU went 3-10 against the Pac 10.

Or look at it in your own ways. There's no way you're going to be intellectually honest and say that the head to head record suggests SEC superiority. I personally believe the SEC has generally been a little tougher (though not every year) because of power ratings and the small edge the SEC has in NFL players (26 to 22 per conference team averages). But I don't think the difference has been anything like people in this area seem to think it's been. If it had been, I don't think there's any way you could see head to head results like those above.