Personally a lot of those teams got into the playoffs based off of their records. I’m still in the camp, that some SEC teams would’ve faired better (competitively) in some of those matchups. I’m biased though
I agree on the SEC strength overall. ND can compete on the same level as elite SEC teams in the NIL era though. They have a huge national following and lots of fans and alums willing to spend money for recruits and portal transfers.
They also have an easier path to the 12 team playoffs each year compared to the SEC teams cannibalizing each other every season.
Edited to add: if Freeman keeps this same momentum long term, he will have a situation even better than Bobby Bowden had dominating in the weak-arse ACC for decades and getting an easy path to the championship in the old BCS era.