I've said it plenty of times and I'll say it again....
I will root for the SEC over most teams.
I want every SEC to be as highly ranked as possible before Tennessee beats them and then I want them to keep winning after we beat them. The results of our opponents directly impacts the national view of Tennessee.
If the conference is crap, then Tennessee is looked down upon. Most years, that obviously won't matter, but I still want every good Tennessee team to have the extra cache of coming from a top conference.
Just how I've always looked at it.