Bruce Feldman tweeted this morning that a Vegas bookmaker, Ed Salmons, said that SIX SEC teams would be favorites against #2 ranked Ohio State on a neutral site. Last year Vegas said six SEC schools, besides Bama, would be favored over Notre Dame in the BCS Championship game.
That's why SEC teams don't need to schedule more difficult OOC opponents. The conference slate alone makes their schedules tougher than any non-SEC schools. It would be senseless to add to that for any reason other than playing a traditional non-conference rival.