It’s a foot race to the finished line.

Who would have thought Jim McElwain could be gone before Butch Jones? And just when Kevin Sumlin looked safe, he isn’t.

Who goes first? And when?

Trying to answer that is one of the 10 things I’m overreacting to after a wild Week 9 in and around the SEC.

10. Congratulations, Ohio State. You beat a B1G team that hadn’t beaten anybody.

Forgive me if I don’t overreact to that one-point home win and anoint the Buckeyes a Playoff participant.

I’ve seen the movie. After Ohio State lost its only non-conference test — at home, by double digits — I told you how it would play out.

Every game matters, except Ohio State losses. Never forget that.

Nice comeback win over Penn State? Sure. Does it change my opinion of the Buckeyes or the Big Ten? Hardly.

This is what the Big Ten does. It always impresses against other Big Ten teams. Then, this is how the movie ends …

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You can fall for it. I’m not about to.

9. This is your daddy’s Georgia.

Assuming you’re over 30, of course.

Is it crazy to think, given all of the East’s struggles against the West, that Georgia is going to walk into Jordan-Hare in two weeks and hang a 35-17 drubbing on Auburn?

If it is, call me crazy, because I don’t see anybody outside of Tuscaloosa slowing down this train. (And I’m already on record as saying Georgia will beat Alabama in the SEC Championship Game.)

Georgia will be No. 2 in today’s AP Poll and No. 2 when the season’s first Playoff poll is released Tuesday night. Given Notre Dame’s rise, Georgia has a legitimate case to be No. 1.

The SEC’s bid for two Playoff teams has never been better.

8. It’s not good when the AD is dispelling buyout rumors before a game.

Did anybody check with Stricklin at halftime? Or post-game?

This can’t end soon enough.

Kirby Smart is wiping out SEC East coaches with the same swift, unmerciful precision that Nick Saban has done for a decade in the West.

7. Illegal use of the flag.

The only thing you need to know about umpires and referees is that they are never wrong. Even when they obviously are. Week 9 was a special kind of botchery.

Ohio State fans certainly weren’t happy when pass interference wiped out this interception. Penn State scored on the next play. (Buckeyes fans were angry over another call that took away another interception, but the refs actually got that one right. Miracles, I know.)

Thank you … but don’t think this makes up for the blown call that cost the Canes the 2002 national championship.

6. Don’t look now, but Chad Morris is 6-2.

The offensive mastermind/recruiter behind Clemson’s rebuild into a national power has rebuilt SMU in his first stint as a head coach.

Morris has only been at SMU for three years. He won’t be there a fourth. Not with three, four, five SEC jobs opening. He should fill one of them.

Chad Morris at Florida makes all kinds of sense … unless Texas A&M grabs the Aggie grad first.

After Saturday’s home meltdown against Mississippi State, Sumlin is right back on the hot seat just in time for next week’s visit from Auburn.

5. If you thought Penn State’s schedule was soft …

That right there is what we call B1G time.

Do you know how difficult it is to type while laughing at that schedule?

4. How ’bout them Canes!

In all seriousness, Mark Richt’s bunch improved to 7-0, but the Canes didn’t look great in dispatching North Carolina.

Miami has done enough to be ranked ahead of Wisconsin, but they don’t need to worry about poll position now, anyway. If they keep winning, they’re in.

In the next two weeks, they’ll face Virginia Tech and Notre Dame. Both games are at home. Win both, and they’ll control their Playoff destiny.

Canes fans love to overreact. They’re better off just ignoring Tuesday’s first Playoff ranking.

3. Iowa State is the Big 12’s Auburn

I didn’t see a snap of Iowa State’s 14-7 snoozer over No. 4 TCU, which is the perfect way to overreact, right?

Iowa State has the two best wins in the country. That’s right. I said it: Iowa State has the two best wins in the country.

And maybe two of the worst losses by a ranked team.

That’s college football … and you wonder why I’m so adamant about going to an 8-team Playoff.

There are two great teams … and about 20 others that can beat just about anybody on any given Saturday.

2. Oh, Tennessee

At least the Vols scored an offensive touchdown. Out of an actual goal-line formation.

Progress.

And they completed a Hail Mary on the final play, too. Certainly progress given the flea-flicker failure last week.

Alas, said Hail Mary ended at the 3-yard line, leading to just the second loss to Kentucky in three decades.

Coming up just short. Is there a more fitting description for the Jones tenure?

1. My Final Four

No. 1 Alabama, No. 2 Georgia, No. 3 Notre Dame, No. 4 Clemson.

And then Oklahoma.

Now that the rest of you are on the Irish bus, there’s zero debate about the first three and there shouldn’t be any about No. 4, either.

I got a good laugh after Ohio State’s win. Twitter exploded with Ohio State in Playoff talk. Kirk Herbstreit used up his entire season’s allotment of exclamation points.

Please, people. Did you forget Clemson?

The Tigers have three wins over Top 16 teams, including two on the road. Their lone loss, by a field goal, came on the road.

Ohio State’s lone loss was at home, again, by double digits to an Oklahoma team that only has one loss. Its loss? Seven points to Iowa State, which is significantly better than anybody thought.

Better is so subjective. Better resume, not so much.

Clemson has a better resume than Ohio State. So does Oklahoma. TCU might be, too.

If you’re picking Ohio State over Clemson or Oklahoma, you are admitting that every game matters — except Ohio State losses. There is no other logical possibility.

Oklahoma already blasted Ohio State. You didn’t forget. You just choose to ignore it.

And we don’t even need to talk about what happened the last time Clemson actually played Ohio State. Forget what the Tigers did on offense because Deshaun Watson is gone. Focus on what they did to J.T. Barrett and the Buckeyes’ offense.

It shut them out. Not down … out.

Scroll back up to the top and look at those numbers.

Stop this nonsense, please. I seriously can’t take another five weeks of it.