Unmitigated chaos across the college football landscape has opened the door for more discussions around whether a program with 3 regular-season losses could be chosen for the 2026-2027 College Football Playoff.
Many of the teams in question reside within the SEC, as programs such as LSU, Alabama, Ole Miss and Texas may end up with strong résumés despite having suffered a trio of losses.
Thus, pundits are debating whether or not those teams should be selected should they finish with 9-3 records, and there is little consensus as of now.
CBS Sports’ Richard Johnson and Bryant McFadden discussed that topic at length, specifically regarding the Longhorns.
“I think a 3-loss SEC team will have a very compelling case, but it has to be the right 3 losses,” Johnson said. “If Texas has a third loss, I just don’t know if that’s the résumé and string of 3 losses that can get them in.”
McFadden disagreed, citing Texas’ overall strength of record despite how they may have looked in some games.
“In terms of impressive, outside of Ole Miss–who they just beat–who has a more impressive résumé in terms of wins within the SEC?” McFadden said. “That third loss could come from either Mizzou or LSU, which means that you’d beat one of them and add another impressive win.”
Parker is currently the sports editor for Gulf Coast Media in Foley, Alabama. He's a graduate from Mizzou who has experience covering the Tiger football and basketball beats for SB Nation, and he's worked for a variety of sports news outlets in the past.
