re: What must the other conferences do to compete with SEC football?

Quite simply, they can't. The SEC is a mile ahead and the gap is bigger every year. The demographics of the country are one reason. The fact CFB is king in the South is another. The budgets and facilities is another. Great conference leadership and vision is another.

In the end though the best HS football athletes are in the South and they have no reason to leave to go to school elsewhere. That isn't changing for the forseeable future.