We tend to look at bowl games in a way that paints the best picture for our conference. To me now, the Sugar Bowl and CFP are the only ones that will tell us much about conference strength.
Texas without Bijan and Overshown was but a skeleton of itself. OU without its starting tailback and both offensive tackles, please. Arkansas down 30 players or whatever. Ole Miss down ten.
But all four CFP teams will play their guts out. And both Alabama and K-State will come with full rosters, sans injuries and transfers. So, those games will give a reasonably clear picture of the B12 v. the SEC and B10 - at least from my perspective.