Starting in about 2010 the East took a sudden nosedive. Florida faltered badly after the Tebow teams, occasionally rising far enough up to be "pretty tough," but nothing like Florida. UGA also had some pretty bad years in there as well, but a few good teams too. Tennessee hasn't been what I used to think of as Tennessee since like 2001. A lot of bad seasons and program management, occasionally some good teams like last year, but not anything that makes me think they're in contention for an NC.
Those are the standard-bearers, the three teams that have the history and resources to be elite. When USC or Kentucky struggles, eh, what else is new. If the Big 3 are down, the whole division languishes.
UGA has been steadily getting tougher and more consistent under Kirby, making that division maybe as hard to play through as the West. However, by definition that doesn't hurt UGA's chances of competing in the division, unless you can somehow get an L in the Spring Game. Missouri seems to be on to something this year.
Conversely, the West is cycling down, at least at the moment. Alabama hasn't been Alabama for a couple years now, LSU fell off a cliff after 2019, A&M is.....A&M, and the Mississippi schools overall haven't been as attention-demanding as in years past. Arguably there's no difference right now between the East and West, and since Georgia is a more complete team than Bama at the moment, you could argue the East is the better division.
It seems often two rivals don't reach full potential at the same time. But it is possible and sometimes it happens, like several of the LSU/Bama teams that were loaded. It's possible for Florida be all the way back even with UGA holding its current serve. I'm on record as wondering if Tennessee can ever be the old Tennessee again, but maybe they can, and boy, the East would be something to watch if UGA, UT, and UF were all elite at the same time. If nothing else, Bama wouldn't win so many SEC titles.
