Let's just use Kentucky here SOG.
So Kentucky playing one more OOC game than a PAC 10 school is all that got them to a bowl? Let's just say those 4 games were easy wins. How is that any different than beating up on winless UW, sorry Wazzou, Stanford, and ASU. And UCLA was awful this season. So if you win 3 of those 5, and win your 3 OOC games, which are usually against the WAC or MWC, what is so tough about that schedule.....nothing.
Plus there are no formidable road games in the PAC 10. Outside of playing at Autzen, there is no real fear of playing at any PAC 10 stadium. That is why the king can drop a game to Stanford.......at home! As good as USC is, there stadium doesn't strike fear. They don't have rabid fans, and the stadium isn't designed for college football.
You can not judge a conference based on the top half. You have to compare the bottom half. The bottom half of the SEC is leaps and bounds ahead of the bottom half of the PAC 10, Big 12, and Big 10. It is easy to just look at the top 2 or three teams and declare a conference great, but you have to look at the rest of the league too. USC beating Penn State only makes a statement about USC, not the Pac 10 conference as a whole.
The SEC is still the king. And winning 3 straight National titles, plus having multiple national champions of the last 20 years, says alot too. To show you what most thought of the Pac 10 this season, a 1 loss USC wasn't even in the NC game discussion.