With only the National Championship Game remaining and the SEC’s reputation restored with an 8-2 bowl record, it’s OK to be honest. The SEC bashers have been beaten down.

The SEC was stronger in 2014.

While, the SEC was only 7-5 last season — and Alabama taken out by Ohio State in the first round of the College Football Playoff — in bowl games, the league was better from top to bottom than it was this season.

Bowl games may be an easy method for assessing conference strength, but they aren’t an accurate indicator.

Bowl games are more about matchups than gauging a league’s strength. Winning in the regular season with as little as four days to prepare — never more than two weeks — with more at stake and far fewer distractions is a better indication of a team’s strength.

The SEC was stronger at the top last season despite bowl losses by five of the seven teams that were in the top 25 entering the postseason.

The 2014 final AP Top 25 included six conference teams — No. 4 Alabama, No. 9 Georgia, No. 11 Mississippi State, No. 14 Missouri, No. 17 Ole Miss and No. 22 Auburn — with three in the top 11 and five in the top 17.

The final 2015 AP Top 25 will include no more than five: Alabama, Ole Miss, LSU, Georgia and Tennessee with only the Rebels joining the Crimson Tide in the top half of the rankings.

Last season, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Auburn and Alabama each were in the top 4 in the College Football Playoff rankings — in the first rankings, the Bulldogs were No. 1, with the Tigers No. 3 and the Rebels at No. 4. LSU, Texas A&M and Arkansas were strong as well.

The East was better, too. Missouri embarrassed the conference by losing to Indiana, but redeemed itself by beating Minnesota in the Citrus Bowl. Georgia finished 10-3 with a bowl victory over Louisville. Tennessee closed strong then whipped Iowa in the TaxSlayer Bowl.

Was the Big 12 vastly superior to the SEC last season because Texas Christian wiped out Ole Miss 42-3 in the Peach Bowl?

If so, then LSU’s romp over Texas Tech must have proven the SEC’s superiority this season.

It doesn’t work that way.

This season, the SEC was favored in eight games — and won those eight games. The SEC was picked to lose two games — and lost those two games.

Victories by Alabama, Ole Miss and Tennessee were impressive, coming over No. 3 Michigan State, No. 12 Oklahoma State and No. 13 Northwestern.

But with Ole Miss and Tennessee, circumstances made the matchups favorable.

Oklahoma State entered the Sugar Bowl on a two-game losing streak and crushed to have lost a conference title and a playoff berth. Northwestern’s 10-2 was deceptive. The Wildcats lost by a combined 78-10 to Iowa and Michigan and didn’t play Ohio State or Michigan State.

There were other clear mismatches. LSU and Leonard Fournette drew Texas Tech and one of the nation’s softest rushing defenses. Arkansas, one of the SEC’s top teams at the end of the season, played 5-7 Kansas State. Mississippi State played an N.C. State team without a quality victory. Georgia played punchless Penn State. Auburn played a Memphis team that had just lost its coach …

In 2014, the SEC wasn’t as fortunate. Other than Ole Miss’ misfortunate matchup against playoff-snubbed TCU, Alabama drew Ohio State, which went on to win the national title. Mississippi State caught Georgia Tech’s option in full gear in the Orange Bowl. LSU played Notre Dame in the Music City Bowl …

And 12 SEC teams qualified for bowls in 2014 with the bottom tier, including Arkansas, Florida, Texas A&M and South Carolina winning their games.

The bottom of the SEC in 2015 — Kentucky, South Carolina, Missouri and Vanderbilt — wasn’t as strong. Good thing they didn’t play in the bowl games — they likely would have lost.