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The SEC placed 3 teams in the College Football Playoff field on Sunday — 1 fewer than the B1G.
Two SEC schools, Texas and Tennessee, will play in the opening round while SEC champion Georgia received a bye into the quarterfinals.
Notably, Alabama, Ole Miss and South Carolina were nowhere to be found when the field was revealed.
Here are 5 thoughts on the SEC College Football Playoff selections.
1. Don’t cry too hard for the 3-loss SEC teams omitted
Alabama, Ole Miss, and South Carolina were all left out of the College Football Playoff.
Each had a case for inclusion.
Alabama is 3-1 against teams currently ranked in the CFP’s Top 25 rankings, defeated SEC champion Georgia and played a top-20 schedule (the number 18 SOS, per ESPN).
Ole Miss routed SEC champion Georgia by 18 points and defeated South Carolina, a fellow Playoff contender, by 24 points at Williams-Brice Stadium.
The Rebels and Crimson Tide each rank in the top 10 nationally in both SP+ offensive and defensive efficiency, a metric that measures efficiency adjusted for tempo and strength of schedule. 2 of just 6 teams in the country with that distinction.
Meanwhile, South Carolina won 9 games, including its last 6 contests, and the Gamecocks have a road win at ACC champion Clemson to punctuate a nation-high 3 wins over CFP ranked opponents in the season’s final month.
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Further, but for the atrocious officiating decision above negating a Nick Emmanwori pick-6 late against LSU, the Gamecocks would have been 10-2 and in the field without debate.
Still, there’s no escaping the bottom-line reality that all 3 teams lost 3 games.
If you want to make the College Football Playoff, just win your games.
That’s the lesson 10-2 Miami learned when it blew a 21-0 lead at Syracuse on rivalry weekend.
It’s also the lesson Alabama can take from a season where the Crimson Tide lost at Vanderbilt — which was hot then but ultimately lost 6 games — and suffered a 3-touchdown blowout defeat against the worst Oklahoma team this century. If Kalen DeBoer’s team wanted in, they could have simply played better football in those games.
Ole Miss wasn’t blown out by anyone, suffering 3 losses by a combined 13 points. But the Rebels lost to 4-win Kentucky on their home field. That defeat, coupled with a loss as a double-digit favorite at Florida last month, poisoned the committee on the Rebels as a Playoff team.
And as compelling a story as South Carolina was, the Gamecocks lost head-to-head contests to fellow SEC Playoff hopefuls Ole Miss (by 24 points at home!) and Alabama. Does the whole regular season matter or does only November matter? It’s difficult to put South Carolina in the field given its slow start to the season.
The bottom line for the omitted program is that all 3 lost games. That wasn’t good enough for the committee, and it’s tough to shed a tear for any of these programs given they all had their opportunity to prove it on the grass.
2. Georgia deserved the 2 seed, and should be the favorite to win the national championship
Georgia received a well-deserved No. 2 overall seed despite a 2-loss campaign. The SEC champs closed the season strong, collecting 2 top-10 wins in their final 4 games and defeating a solid 7-win Georgia Tech team on rivalry weekend. Kirby Smart’s outfit was 1 of just 2 teams (Oregon) in the Playoff field with 3 victories over fellow College Football Playoff opposition.
The health of injured quarterback Carson Beck moving forward could have played into the committee’s minds, but Georgia made that point moot when it rallied to beat Texas behind backup quarterback Gunner Stockton.
The Dawgs’ defense played their best game of the season in the SEC Championship as well, proving they can win with defense, if necessary, over the next month. If Georgia also gets the best out of top dollar portal running back Trevor Etienne, it’s easy to see why the committee honored Georgia’s body of work despite lingering questions about Beck’s health.
It also helps that Georgia has the best coach in the sport. Kirby Smart pulled the Dawgs out of the fire with his in-game coaching against rival Georgia Tech and proved his mettle yet again Saturday night, dialing up a fake punt at a perfect time and trusting Mike Bobo to win the game with Oscar Delp and Trevor Etienne in the overtime session.
This is not a Jordan Travis/FSU situation. Unlike the Seminoles sans Travis, the Dawgs aren’t rudderless without Beck. Instead, Georgia is really good, even without their senior leader. They are my favorite to win the national championship.
3. If résumés matter, Texas received a gift as a 5 seed
None of the SEC’s seedings were a significant surprise, but the closest team to being overseeded is SEC runner-up Texas, seeded 5th in the field.
Texas lacked a big-time win this season outside of its rivalry win at Texas A&M on Thanksgiving weekend. In fact, among the 6 SEC teams considered for a Playoff spot, only the Longhorns failed to defeat a fellow Playoff contender. But in seeding Texas 5th, the committee sent a clear message it valued Texas’ 11 regular-season victories more than it worried about the lack of quality victories.
The Longhorns will host Clemson at DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium in the opening round.
Because Texas hasn’t been tested as sternly as other SEC Playoff contenders, it’s harder to assess how the Longhorns will stack up in the 12-team tournament.
Our guess is that the flaws exposed in 2 losses to Georgia will be their demise.
Texas has an elite defense, loaded with NFL talent at all three levels. But will they get enough offensively?
Texas’ struggled to block the Dawgs in both games and were unable to establish the run.
The running game issues aren’t just a “Georgia vs. Texas” problem, either.
Texas ran the football beautifully in their 17-7 win at Texas A&M.
But that felt like an aberration, as Texas struggled to run in wins over Vanderbilt and Arkansas, 2 of their wins against teams with a .500 record or better down the stretch. Texas ranks 64th in rushing offense and 66th in rushing success rate, middle of the pack numbers among Playoff programs and an issue that has placed immense pressure on quarterback Quinn Ewers to make big-time throws to keep the Horns on schedule offensively.
Ewers has delivered at times this season but struggled at others, especially after an early-season injury.
This Texas team was handed a gift with a 5 seed, but the play of Ewers will likely define whether they take advantage of it.
4. Josh Heupel and Tennessee are the SEC’s best story no one is talking about outside Rocky Top
Tennessee advanced to its first College Football Playoff, a just reward after their second 10-win campaign in coach Josh Heupel’s 4 years in Knoxville.
Heupel is 37-14 in Knoxville, flipping a program that was 20-27 in the 4 seasons preceding his arrival.
This Tennessee team was his most well-rounded. The Volunteers are magnificent on defense, ranked 4th nationally in total defense and yards per play allowed, and 5th in success rate defense. Tennessee’s defensive line ranked No. 2 in the country in pressures created, behind only Ole Miss, and No. 4 in havoc rate, behind only Ole Miss, SMU and South Carolina.
That defensive front will be a huge test for an Ohio State team that has struggled to contain elite pressure this season.
While Tennessee isn’t as explosive as the 2022 Orange Bowl champion team led by Hendon Hooker, the Vols still ranked in the top 20 in SP+ offensive efficiency and 9th in rushing offense.
Running back Dylan Sampson, USA Today’s SEC Player of the Year, rewrote the Tennessee record books this autumn with 1,485 yards and 22 touchdowns, both school records. He’s a bellcow who helps Tennessee dictate tempo against any opponent.
But it’s the play of redshirt freshman quarterback Nico Iamaleava down the stretch that gives Tennessee staying power in the Playoff. Iamaleava threw 8 of his 19 touchdown passes in the final 2 games, and he averaged over 10.7 yards per completion in November, a 2.8-yard improvement over his season average. A 5-star recruit with gargantuan arm talent, if Iamaleava is starting to figure things out, the Volunteers might become more than just a great story this month.
5. Ranking the 1st round and quarterfinal SEC matchups
1. Georgia vs. Notre Dame (Quarterfinal): This depends on Notre Dame dispatching of Indiana, of course, but that should happen in their opening-round game in South Bend.
It’s hard to overstate what a great matchup this is if you like strength on strength. Georgia struggles to run the football, though that improved down the stretch. Notre Dame’s strength defensively is in the secondary, where the Fighting Irish boast multiple All-Americans. If Notre Dame can slow the Dawgs, the question becomes whether Riley Leonard and the Fighting Irish offense can score enough points to pull the upset.
2. Tennessee at Ohio State (1st round): If styles make fights, you have to think Tennessee won’t hate a trip to The ‘Shoe as much once they turn on the film. Ohio State only allowed 13 sacks this season, but they were pushed up front in their 2 losses, surrendering 31 pressures in defeats against Oregon and Michigan. Tennessee also has one of the nation’s best cover corners, Jermod McCoy, whose matchup with Jeremiah Smith will be NFL Scout appointment television.
3. Texas vs. Arizona State (1st round): Arizona State has scored throughout the season, but they have played a host of close games, winning many of their biggest at home. It’s hard to see them scoring more than 20 or 24 against a tremendous Texas defense and the Sun Devils lack the athletes needed to consistently slow Texas offensively. A gift of a draw for Hook ‘Em.
Neil Blackmon covers Florida football and the SEC for SaturdayDownSouth.com. An attorney, he is also a member of the Football and Basketball Writers Associations of America. He also coaches basketball.
