Nobody in the southeast is ever going to admit the SEC is down.... just won't happen under any circumstance. But pretty much everyone outside it can see it. It's not as good as it has been. I don't buy the SEC west is loaded. They have Alabama and Auburn and that's about it. LSU is not very good regardless of their record and neither is Arkansas. If they're loaded because of LSU and Arkansas, then every conference is loaded because all of them can claim teams that good.
Auburn deserves the ranking they have and they have the best player in the game this year. They may just be the best team in the country. If they go onto beat Alabama, then there will be no doubt as to where they stand. But I don't think their path has been any more difficult than Oregon's to this point. And most people not living in the southeast are likely to agree. If the two teams played on neutral terf, I think it would be close but I'd probably bet on Oregon. Auburn's offense is very good, but is capable of being slowed down, even if just a little. I don't know that Oregon's could be slowed down at all.
But like Rick said, none of us have much idea of what would happen if all these teams were able to play on the field.