You can kind of tell a person's age by when they grew up watching football.
If you started getting heavy into College Football around the Petrino era and after, especially the Charlie era, then you remember SEC SEC SEC winning all the time. But if you started before that, you remember the Big Ten bias. People don't remember 2004 Auburn being undefeated out of the SEC and not making the BCS title game. People forget the time when OHio State, Michigan, and Notre Dame had all the bias. Nebraska was a powerhouse. Florida State and Miami was the biggest game of the year and the modern ACC was build on that game. The SEC star was Steve Spurrier. Then the USC, OU, and Texas years of the early 2000s.
The SEC never really had that one program that was a major draw. Like you know what I mean, a program that when they're rocking everyone is paying attention. Programs like Ohio State, USC, Texas, Michigan, & Notre Dame. The SEC programs like Georgia, Alabama, Florida, and Tennessee are all really good. The draw is that there are a bunch of really good programs and talent that makes it interesting. The league itself was the sell. Nick Saban making Bama that team every single year helped them keep that brand dominance during the years were they weren't as strong.
Remember the 2006-2007 coaching cycles? Rich Rod turned down Alabama but took Michigan. Les Miles had a national title team at LSU, but was heavily considering leaving for Michigan. Crazy to think that in this day and age, but that mindset changed ever so quickly
Right before Florida won the 2006 title, Ohio State and Michigan both played at #1 and #2. It was the defacto national title game and the clear best two teams. Florida beat OSU down in the title game. I mean the I remember the Iron Bowl just being another rivalry game and not a must watch game before Saban.
