Last fall showed just how even the SEC has become. Alabama ended up on top of the conference, thanks to pulling its season together after an October loss to Ole Miss. But the “who beat who” matrix in the West is proof that despite Alabama coming out on top yet again, the division — and the conference — has flattened out.

Alabama lost to Ole Miss, which also lost to LSU and Auburn. Ole Miss beat Mississippi State and Texas A&M, both of which beat Auburn. Auburn also lost to Georgia, but beat LSU and held a late lead on Alabama before falling in the Iron Bowl. LSU battered Ole Miss, but lost at home to Mississippi State and Alabama and was demolished on the road by Auburn. Both LSU and Ole Miss lost in shutout fashion to unranked Arkansas.

On the SEC went week to week, with upsets and a topsy-turvy division. Alabama ended up representing the SEC in the playoffs after making it through the West and dominating Missouri in the SEC title game, but at some point in the season Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Georgia and Auburn looked poised to play on the biggest stage.

Heading into 2015, we could be in for more of the same. Some of the SEC’s biggest contenders — Alabama, Ole Miss, Georgia, LSU — don’t have a quarterback yet. Auburn is turning to a player with a half-game of starting experience to lead what many think is a playoff contender. The team with the best quarterback in the conference, Dak Prescott at MSU, is considered an afterthought, while Texas A&M, Arkansas, Missouri and Tennessee all lurk, hoping to take advantage of the leveling out of the conference with playoff runs of their own.

Four teams — Alabama, Auburn, LSU and Georgia — all have odds of 30-to-1 or better of making it to the playoffs, per a recent release from the Las Vegas Superbook. Nine more teams are listed with 100-to-1 odds or better. As much as any season in recent memory, the SEC feels wide open.

That’s in line with what the College Football Playoff aimed to bring, isn’t it? In the past, 14 weeks of football left us with just two teams, determined by the BCS formula, standing at the end to compete for a national title. The CFP committee added in a human element, and it gave two more teams a chance. In the inaugural season of the playoff, the third and fourth teams in, Oregon and Ohio State, ended up playing for the national championship, with the last-team-in Buckeyes taking the crown.

In the SEC this year, there are only four or five teams for which a division title would be a true shocker. While the even playing field might come back to hurt the SEC if a champion emerges with two losses, it’s worth mentioning that the committee picked an Ohio State team after a loss to wayward Virginia Tech and the loss of two quarterbacks. The SEC champion will at least be in consideration for a spot in the field no matter what.

In an era where twice as many teams have a chance to win the national title annually than in the past, it feels like twice as many teams as usual have a legitimate shot at an SEC championship as well. We’ll find out in earl December just what that parity means to the selection committee.