I agree, back in the day, they had some consistently very good teams competitive with Texas when Texas was Texas and not texas.
They were never in the USC/ND/OSU kind of terrain, more akin to UGA in the 1960s, probably better. They did beat UGA in a 1968 bowl when UGA was 8-0-2, giving rise to rumors that the UGA team was out partying the night before in NO. Or they didn't want to be there. Or something.
Being 8-0-2 is an odd record to have in my view.