Last week, we had questions about SEC fashion, Talladega Nights and preseason expectations.

This week, we pick an SEC coach to make a field goal, discuss some early College Football Playoff ramifications and do a thorough examination of the abysmal state of the Kansas football program.

With that, let’s get started with the questions you had for the SEC Mailbag ahead of the Week 2 slate of games:

@Dobbe8:

Pick an SEC coach to make a 35-yard field goal to save your life.

With such dire consequences for this question, I’d better be sure to get it right. The two guys who immediately come to mind are the energetic Chad Morris at Arkansas and the always interesting Dan Mullen at Florida.

I’m going to go with Mullen, who is a runner and also enjoys mixing it up on the basketball court on occasion. Plus, he has some serious shoe game, so I know he’d take the footwear aspect of kicking seriously.

https://twitter.com/GatorsFB/status/981528064399216643?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E981528064399216643&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2F247sports.com%2Fcollege%2Fflorida%2FBolt%2FFlorida-Gators-football-Head-coach-Dan-Mullen-has-morning-run-with-UF-ROTC–117004610%2F

Also, Mullen seems like he’d legitimately try to save my life. There are a few SEC coaches who probably wouldn’t care about the high stakes you proposed, so Mullen is my guy. A lot riding on this one, Coach …

@Zooch23:

Can you and the boys start a fan page called JoeBurrowOrDie in which the page just shows Joe Burrow highlights?

Do we actually have any Joe Burrow highlights yet? Don’t get me wrong, he had a solid debut for LSU, leading the Tigers to a huge win over Miami, but Burrow didn’t have many “highlights,” per se.

Perhaps his top highlight came with his brain, not with his arm, as he called a key audible on a fourth-down play:

He also made a couple of nice throws and flashed serious potential, but it’s probably a bit too soon for a Joe Burrow highlight page. Let’s wait until he completes more than 11 of his 24 passes and actually throws a touchdown.

That could (and should) be coming this weekend as the Tigers host Southeastern Louisiana. We could have plenty of highlights to share next week at this time, so stay tuned.

@Colby_W23:

How many more times will a non-divisional champion make the Playoff before it is expanded to at least eight teams?

Last year, Alabama won the national title (as I’m sure you’re all aware) despite losing the SEC West title to Auburn. As momentum builds for the College Football Playoff to expand to eight teams, that would make it much easier for a non-division champion to make it to the Playoff, as the Power 5 conference champions would likely be guaranteed spots, alongside a Group of 5 team and two wild cards.

Assuming that we aren’t counting the Big 12 (which hasn’t had divisions since Mizzou and Texas A&M left for the SEC), the odds of another non-division champ making the Playoff seem slim. In fact, it would almost certainly have to be another SEC team. The SEC has been the only conference represented in every Playoff so far (thanks to Alabama), so that means that there has been at least one conference champion left out every year so far.

This pretty much comes down to the SEC West. Let’s say Alabama and Auburn are both undefeated and enter the Iron Bowl at No. 1 and No. 2 in the country. The game is close and the winner goes on to trounce the SEC East champion in the conference title game. In that scenario, much like with Alabama last year, I think the Selection Committee would give the Iron Bowl loser a long look.

The SEC and ACC champions are near locks to make the Playoff every season, and I think the Big Ten champ will get in this year after Ohio State was left out in 2017, so that leaves one more spot. Let’s say Auburn loses the Iron Bowl by a field goal, Washington wins the Pac-12 and the winner of the Big 12 has two losses. In that scenario, with a head-to-head victory over the Huskies, I think the Tigers would get the nod in the No. 4 spot.

Yes, a lot has to happen between now and then for that to be a scenario facing the committee, but this sort of speculation is what makes the whole process so great. And it just goes to show how much every week matters in college football, as Auburn’s Week 1 victory over Washington is already affecting how we are playing out certain CFP scenarios.

And now, we enter my favorite portion of the Mailbag. In case you missed it, Kansas lost to FCS foe Nicholls in Lawrence on Saturday, falling 26-23 in overtime. So, just how bad are things with the Jayhawks?

Robert:

Which is more likely: Alabama beating an NFL team or Kansas losing to a high school team?

The “Could Alabama beat the Cleveland Browns?” discussion heated up again last year, especially as the Browns were floundering their way to an 0-16 record and the Tide were busy winning their fifth championship under Nick Saban. Mostly, the people having this debate fall into two camps — one being that Alabama would absolutely beat the Browns, and the other being that the Browns would destroy the Crimson Tide.

I tend to fall somewhere in the middle. I do think the Browns would win, but I think the Tide could make it a pretty close game (especially with Tua Tagovailoa under center, but that’s a whole other debate).

So, that leaves us with Kansas losing to a high school team. Let’s theoretically say this high school team is this year’s IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla. Based on the 247Sports rankings, the 2018 IMG Academy squad has 10 seniors rated as either 4- or 5-star recruits (with DE Nolan Smith, RB Trey Sanders and OT Evan Neal as the 5-star guys), and that’s just of their 2019 prospects. There are plenty of other talented players waiting in the wings at the younger levels.

Meanwhile, under coach David Beaty (he of the 3-34 overall record), the Jayhawks have signed only a single 4-star guy (2018 CB Corione Harris) and zero 5-star prospects.

Yes, players in college get better as they get older, especially while working with better coaches, better equipment and better nutrition, but man, it’s a lean time in Lawrence. Give me IMG Academy in a close one.

@SChinni12:

Has there ever been an SEC team as bad as KU football?

Fortunately for me, Knoxville News Sentinel columnist John Adams recently ranked some of the 18 teams that have finished SEC play without a win. Of his rankings, the 1999 South Carolina Gamecocks were first, finishing 0-11 in Lou Holtz’s first year in Columbia.

The Gamecocks’ defense that year was fine, allowing only 278 points in 11 games. For comparison, in today’s scoring-heavy version of football, that total would have ranked seventh in the SEC. But that offense was absolutely atrocious, scoring only 87 points ALL SEASON.

The 2017 Jayhawks, meanwhile, allowed a whopping 521 points while going 1-11. That was worse than all but two teams in the FBS — East Carolina and San Jose State, and San Jose State played 13 games to Kansas’ 12. The offense wasn’t much better, scoring only 224 points, which ranked 120th out of 130 FBS programs.

Considering Holtz pulled off an incredible turnaround in 2000, guiding the Gamecocks to an 8-4 record and a victory over Ohio State in the Outback Bowl, it’s safe to say there was some talent on that disappointing 1999 squad.

Meanwhile, the current iteration of the Jayhawks are reaching new depths of futility among Power 5 programs, so I’ll take the 1999 Gamecocks in this hypothetical matchup of all-time terrible teams.

Have a question for the SDS Mailbag? Tweet using #SDSMailbag or email ASpencer@SaturdayDownSouth.com to get your questions in! The best question each week earns a sticker of your choice!