Could it be that conference consolidation and NIL have started to lead to parity?

Let’s take the old P12 as an example. If they had all been playing each other with a couple patsies for OOC, the perception might remain that some of them are dominant teams. Besides Oregon, you might have undefeated CU, and better optics for a few others. The national media would be voting them higher and overall perception of dominant teams and strength of conference would still be there. You’d have the SEC rule applied to a lesser degree to a conference with much weaker teams.