Why are these coaches smiling? They are the highes-paid in the SEC. Texas A&M’s Kevin Sumlin, left, meets with Alabama head coach Nick Saban, right, before last Saturday’s Alabama win.

-- Ap Photo/Brynn Anderson

Based on the eye test – as well as what has transpired on the field – I think it’s pretty safe to say Alabama is the best team in the SEC.

Who’s No. 2? I’ll take Texas A&M, which actually led the Crimson Tide 14-13 early in the second half last weekend before ultimately falling 33-14.

No. 3? Give me Auburn. After early-season losses to Clemson and Texas A&M, the Tigers are on a roll. They’ve won their last three games by a combined 128 points, including a 56-3 rout of Arkansas last Saturday.

No. 4? I’ll give the nod to LSU, thanks to the way things have turned around since Les Miles’ exit. If the Tigers upset Alabama in two weeks, Ed Orgeron will become a very serious candidate as permanent head coach.

Notice a pattern developing here? Yes, the best four teams in the SEC all reside in the Western Division.

What about Tennessee? It wasn’t so very long ago that the Vols looked like a team of destiny. But all those injuries took a toll. The double-overtime loss to Texas A&M and the 49-10 crushing by Alabama took a bigger toll.

UT is still the best team in the SEC East, but you can make a strong argument that the Vols are no better than the fifth-best team in the conference. Such is the nature of the SEC. The balance of power leans heavily to the Western Division.

The proof is on the scoreboard.

In eight cross-division games, the West holds a 7-1 advantage, with Kentucky’s last-second win over Mississippi State last Saturday the only time the East has scratched. The point differential in those eight games: 304-142.

Likewise, it is telling that the Western Division has won the last seven SEC Championship Games. While you can argue that the record in a one-game showdown can be misleading because of the impact of injuries and other factors, it is clear that the West’s recent dominance is evident in September, October and November, as well as early December.

While Alabama is the gold standard, it can’t be ignored that other programs haven’t been content to sit and watch.

At one point in the 2014 season, Mississippi State and Ole Miss occupied the Nos. 1 and 3 spots in the national rankings. I can’t remember the last time the SEC East had two teams ranked that high at the same time. The closest thing that comes to mind was in 1997 when No. 2 Florida faced No. 4 Tennessee.

You can argue that these things are cyclical so it’s only a matter of time before the East is back on equal footing. Remember, for a stretch in the 1990s, Eastern Division members Florida and Tennessee were the two best teams in the conference. In 1993, ’95, ’96 and ’97, the Vols’ only SEC loss was to Florida.

But the pendulum certainly has swung in the last several years. Part of that is due to the arrival of Nick Saban at Alabama in 2007.

He’s the best coach in college football. He recruits the best players, hires the best assistant coaches and develops talent better than anyone else. That’s why he’s won four national championships in the last seven seasons and is favored to win a fifth this year.

Like every SEC team, however, Alabama only plays two crossover games each year. The Crimson Tide isn’t the only one who’s beating up on the Eastern Division. The cross-division domination goes from top to bottom. Last season, the West was 12-2 versus the East.

What gives? It’s pretty simple. As a group, the SEC West has better coaches and better players than the East.

Let’s look at on-field talent. If you believe in the rankings spewed out by various recruiting services, SEC West teams have signed better players than their Eastern Division counterparts in recent years, with Alabama leading the way.

Better recruiting classes tend to result in better performance.

Case in point: Of the 25 players on the coaches’ All-SEC team last season (including kicker, punter and returner), 18 were from the Western Division. Of the 22 SEC players selected in the first three rounds of the 2016 NFL draft, 17 were from the West.

As for coaching, follow the money. The trail leads to the SEC West.

The five highest-paid coaches in the conference are in the West – Saban, Kevin Sumlin of Texas A&M, Gus Malzahn of Auburn, Hugh Freeze of Ole Miss and the fired (but still getting paid) Miles of LSU.

And it doesn’t stop with the head coaches.

The SEC West also is home to the five highest-paid assistant coaches in the league.

Texas A&M defensive coordinator John Chavis ranks No. 1 among assistant coaches in the entire country with a $1.55 million annual salary. Four other assistants in the Western Division make more than $1 million a year.

Only one SEC East assistant, Tennessee defensive coordinator Bob Shoop, pulls down more than $1 million annually.

The SEC East hasn’t been able to keep up. While the West has gotten stronger, the East has gotten weaker.

Certainly, much of this is due to the coaching transition in the SEC East. Butch Jones of Tennessee and Mark Stoops of Kentucky are in their fourth seasons – and they are the longest-tenured coaches in the East. That kind of coaching upheaval has put the East in catch-up mode.

When will things even out? That’s hard to say. Alabama isn’t likely to lose market share as long as Saban is around. After some slippage over the last couple of seasons, Texas A&M has regained traction.

With its recruiting turf and fan base, LSU should be able to land a top-tier coach and get back in the hunt for the division title. This list goes on and on.

In the East, Tennessee continues to rebound thanks to Jones’ recruiting, but the blowout loss to Alabama is a reminder that much work remains.

Florida is making progress but the Gators’ offense needs a boost via recruiting. The jury is still out on the Kirby Smart-for-Mark Richt transition at Georgia.

Beyond that, it’s hard to make a case that the best of the remaining four SEC East programs is any better than the worst Western Division program. That doesn’t bode well for closing the gap between divisions any time soon.

For now, and the foreseeable future, the SEC’s compass continues to point due West.

Reach David Climer at [email protected] and on Twitter @DavidClimer.