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Look at the last two decades of college football and you'll find that, for the most part, it's a sport that has been dominated by the Southeastern Conference. Consider, since 2005, the SEC has produced more Heisman Trophy winners (8), more 1st overall picks in the NFL Draft (8) and more National Champions (13) than any other conference in the NCAA, and since the College Football Playoff was introduced in 2014, eight of the ten National Championship Games played have featured an SEC team.
But now, as the College Football Playoff expands to 12 teams, there's been plenty of debate as to how many teams from the nation's premier conference should be included in the field. Before the season began, there was a belief that as many as six teams could be included, but coming into the weekend, there was a scenario where only three SEC teams made the cut.
On Saturday morning, SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey made a final plea to the College Football Playoff Selection Committee on behalf of the conference he's presided over since 2015.
The winner of Texas and Georgia will end up being either the 1 or 2 seed in the College Football Playoff, depending on what happens in the Big Ten Championship Game. The loser will earn an at-large bid into the 12-team field, as will Tennessee, who in this week's CFP rankings was the 7th-ranked team in the field. Go ahead and call that three CFP locks for the SEC.
Sankey noted that a staggering 14 teams in the SEC have a more difficult strength of schedule than all but one team ranked in the latest CFP top 25 rankings before highlighting that the SEC has an 8-3 record against the ACC this season. Sankey's shot at the ACC isn't happenstance. It was calculated.
Alabama is the team on the theoretical cut line, but the Tide almost certainly clinched a spot in the field after Boise State was able to hold off UNLV in the Mountain West Championship Game. However, if SMU were to lose to Clemson in the ACC Title Game, Alabama's path to the CFP could get a little murkier, but I would expect that the committee, whether right or wrong, would bump the Mustangs below the Crimson Tide in the final rankings of the year.
Along with the University of Miami, South Carolina and Ole Miss are “on the bubble,” although there is no path to the College Football Playoff at this point for either the Gamecocks or the Rebels. However, defenders of the SEC will be quick to challenge the inclusion of Indiana, who went 0-1 all season against ranked teams.
Ultimately, if the SEC can emerge from College Football Playoff, everything that Greg Sankey is saying about his conference will be justified, no matter how many teams make it into the 12-team field.
