Can someone explain why people represent conferences sometimes instead of theyre team?

In other words why is there all this talk about the SEC, arent you guys rivals with each other? In the Big 10 personally I root against Michigan if they are playing someone else caue thats our rival & OSU's competition for best in the conference. Im looking at it like this, my NFL team is the Cleveland Browns, but I would never represent the AFC North, cause all our rivals are in there like Pittsburgh, Cincy & Baltimore. I realize its probably different in college but Ive never that close of attention to college until the last 2 years for some reason. BTW, they do need a playoff system, the games were lame & told nothing about who was best, how can they when there are so many lopsided matchups. There is no way to evaluate unless someone runs the table in a tournament bracket.