Arkansas is actually one of the main reasons the SEC is as highly regarded as it is... not LSU, Auburn, Alabama, Florida, the national championship teams.
I mean, sure, it says a lot that the last 5 champions all came from the same conference and it's been different teams (and btw... if you don't think Arkansas is on the up, I don't think you watch college football... they went to the Sugar Bowl this year).
Anyway, back on topic. The Pac-12 has some good teams. The Big 12 has some good teams. The Big Ten has some good teams.
What these conferences don't have are the great teams in the middle of the conference.
Every conference is going to have their bottom teams, Vanderbilt, etc. But in the SEC...
Alabama, LSU, Arkansas, Auburn, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina...
The strength of a conference isn't determined by the best team(s) in the conference. It's determined by the depth of the conference.
Lots of people think Arkansas has a chance at the national championship this year (Vegas bookies, college football reporters at ESPN and Fox Sports, etc), but most of these people would all also rank Arkansas 3rd in their own DIVISION.
In their DIVISION!
Take
http://www.vegasinsider.com/college-.../odds/futures/ for example.
Vegas odds to win National Championship.
Alabama 4/1
Oklahoma 5/1
Oregon 10/1
Boise State 12/1
Florida 12/1
Florida State 12/1
FIELD (All others) 15/1
LSU 15/1
Stanford 15/1
South Carolina 20/1
Notre Dame 20/1
Nebraska 22/1
Ohio State 25/1
Arkansas 25/1
Texas 25/1
West Virginia 25/1
Wisconsin 25/1
Etc on down, including
Georgia 35/1
Auburn 100/1
Tennessee 125/1
Now... let's REALLY look at this break down...
Arkansas is given 25/1 odds. They're the 5th team from the SEC on the list and the 3rd from the SECW on the list...
Part of their 25/1 odds is the fact that they're playing against 3 of those 4 SEC teams on that list ahead of Arkansas. And 2 of those 3 games are road games. @Bama, vs SC, @LSU.
But take a closer look at that list...
The Big 12? Oklahoma is 5/1, but the next Big 12 team? Texas 25/1. The second best team in the Big 12 is given the exact same nat.championship odds as Arkansas.
How about the Big Ten? Nebraska 22/1. Ohio State 25/1. The best Big Ten team is only a slight favorite over Arkansas to win the national championship, and the second best Big Ten team has the exact same odds as Arkansas. The Big Ten also has Wisconsin at the same 25/1 odds.
Pac-12? Well, they don't have a team at 25/1 odds like Arkansas, but they do have two teams with better odds than Arkansas: Oregon 10/1, Stanford 15/1. Pac-12 is also somewhat hampered by the fact that USC isn't on this list since they are ineligible this year, but no matter where we put USC in here, that only gives the Pac-12 3 teams with equal or better odds than Arkansas.
... and Arkansas is the FIFTH! SEC team on the list... and the THIRD team on the list from the SEC West.
Alabama, LSU, Arkansas. These three teams from one SEC
division are on par or better than the top 3 teams from any other
CONFERENCE.