I don't follow Arizona football too closely, but what - other than a decent head coach - makes them appreciably different than an Oregon? I know there's the Nike money, but Arizona's a huge state school, so that doesn't seem like it should be a big deal. Plus, Arizona has huge recruiting advantages over almost all other schools regarding weather and coeds. I know neither school is college football royalty, but I don't see why a good head coach can't do at Arizona what Chip Kelly has done in Eugene.
We'll have to disagree about the SEC. I see Rich Rod's ceiling in the SEC as a school like South Carolina - historically, the 4th best team in their division and somewhere around 7th best in the conference. Before Michigan he could have gone to a top tier SEC school, but not any more.