20 years ago the SEC wasn't this sacred cow that it is now. But, they won big games when it mattered the most.

2003 LSU shocked the CFB world by beating Oklahoma in the BCS championship game. Still the next year undefeated Auburn was left out of the championship game.

2006 Florida shocked the CFB world by destroying Ohio State in the BCS championship game. There was serious debate whether Florida deserved to be in that game, rather than give Michigan a rematch against the Buckeyes.

2007 LSU embarrassed Ohio State again in the BCS championship game. The only way LSU got into the game was West Virginia laying an egg against a bad Pitt team.

At that point, the Big Ten was a joke in the college football landscape, and the SEC had seized the day to become the powerhouse conference of CFB.

Today, money is undeniably a big part of the decision making, but exposing the SEC (and now the Big Ten since they have rehabbed their image and come with a giant price tag) on the field is the only way the Big 12 is going to get more CFP representation and the champ a higher spot in the rankings. Right now, the Big 12 is marked by TCU getting obliterated by Georgia in the championship game. It was something never before seen and probably never see again. Each year, the Big 12 champion is going to have to win a couple of games and not have an embarrassing loss for pressure to mount on the CFP committee to put more than one Big 12 team in.

Case in point, there was not a lot of respect for the ACC 10 years ago, and still isn't, but Clemson shut them all up by winning the championship a couple of times. No one is going to say anything bad if Dabo Swinney has Clemson in position for a playoff berth. They'll get the benefit of the doubt because they have proved it on the field.