My family had an experience that was the polar opposite of yours...My oldest daughter attended one of the high profile private schools in the Jackson Metro for 5 yrs. My wife and I both grew up attending private schools in Jackson which provided a bit of perspective on the lack of value we felt...
and we won't be the only SEC school it happens to. The animus directed towards the SEC in baseball may be worse than it is in football... other than that, I totally agree with your post. Put simply, if we don't somehow get hosed by the committee, I'll be VERY pleasantly surprised!