conference championships and I don't recall sitting around and getting excited about conference championship clinching wins. The rare exception would be times when the entire conference was strong (like right before the expansion to the 16 team WAC). When the conference was weak, I was excited about each win. But I didn't go, "Woohoo! We're conference champs!" I went "Woohoo! We are 11-1! (or whatever the record was).
And none of that disrespects the effort of the teams in question. But you'd rather find offense where none is intended.