So you don’t think that GA has had an easier path in the SEC than Bama over the last several years?
Who cares?
But let's take that into account and do some analysis. We will set aside the obvious cupcakes not named Auburn for this review (e.g. FCS or WAC, etc).
POWER 5 OOC
Georgia played Clemson (21) and Oregon (22)
Alabama played Miami and Texas (on the road)
Clemson was better than Miami in 21 and Oregon was better than Texas in 22.
Georgia wins that argument on both counts.
COMMON OPPONENTS
Florida 21 - Georgia wins a rout, we escape
Arkansas 21 - Georgia wins a rout, we escape with a 7-point win
Auburn 21 - Georgia wins a rout, we escape with a 4 overtime win
Tennessee 21 - both win a blowout
Auburn 22 - both win a blowout
Vandy 22 - both win by the same 55-0 score
Tennessee 22 - UGA win, Alabama loss
MSU 22 - Alabama by 24 at home, Georgia by 26 on the road
LSU 22 - Georgia blowout win, Alabama loss.
Georgia went 9-0 against all common opponents.
Alabama went 7-2 with 3 narrow wins.
The season consists of 13 games minus the 3 cupcakes is 10, which times 2 is 20 plus we count the SECCG in 22 since UGA DID have to play them with something on the line.
Out of the 21 games that count, NEARLY HALF are common opponents and when you add in the two OOC games where UGA faced tougher teams, OVER HALF of the schedule for UGA is "the same or harder."
Now we look intra-division.
DIFFERENT FOES
Georgia (in division) had Kentucky, Mizzou, Vandy, SCAR both years
Alabama (in division) had Ole Miss, aTm, LSU, Arky both years
2021
Since aTm beat Mizzou and S Carolina by routs, it's reasonable to conclude they were better than any Eastern team save UGA. I think it's reasonable they were better than 10-3 UK.
Ole Miss beat Tenn and Vandy, but who is surprised by that?
Arky beat Mizzou, again who does this shock?
MSU beat Vandy and Kentucky
Auburn lost to both UGA and SCAR
LSU beat UF and lost to Kentucky.
In this limited universe, aTm is better than any SEC team UGA played (other than Alabama) but hardly helps our case given we lost. Florida and Vandy were clearly the bottom of the conference, LSU and Auburn would be right above them. And yes, one could reasonably argue that aTm, Ole Miss, Arky, and MSU were better than 10-3 Kentucky, the 2nd best team in the Eastern division. So that Alabama HAD A MORE DIFFICULT DIVISIONAL ROUTE in 2021 is true. How much does that count, though?
2022
LSU got blown out by Tenn and UGA and beat UF
MSU lost to both UGA and UK
Ole Miss beat both UK and Vandy
Arky beat SCAR (early) and lost to Mizzou
Auburn beat Mizzou on a fluke and lost to UGA (count Mizzou a loss for even being close)
aTm lost to UF and SCAR
Tenn beat Alabama and LSU
SCAR beat aTm and lost to Arky
UK beat MSU and lost narrowly at Ole Miss (by 3)
Florida beat aTm but lost to LSU
So AGAIN (no shock here)....Vandy was the worst.
But in 22, Tennessee was still better than any team in the West (they got blown out by an
East team late in the season) - they manhandled LSU and beat us. Who was the 3rd best team in the West this year? Ole Miss needed two UK turnovers in the final 3 minutes at home to escape - and UK beat MSU, who did beat Ole Miss.
So you probably have:
1) Georgia
2) Tennessee
3) Alabama
4) LSU
5) SCAR
6) Kentucky
7) MSU
8) Ole Miss
And Vandy wasn't as bad as they've been in previous years.
It is indisputable the 2021 West was tougher than the East.
It's not all that far apart in 2022, including Vandy. Indeed, you can argue the East was probably as good as the West this past year.
So UGA MAY have had a slightly easier route to the championship than Alabama did - but how much easier? 10%?
Is there REALLY any such thing as an easy route in the SEC?