We’re halfway through this demolition derby of a Playoff beauty pageant, and there’s a whole lot of dents and dings among contenders.

Keep your hands and feet inside the car, kids. We’re in for a bumpy 2nd half of the season.

“I’m not going to apologize for winning on the road in the SEC,” said Georgia coach Kirby Smart, who then proceeded to apologize for the way the big, bad Dawgs played in a 17-point win at SEC tomato can Vanderbilt. “I’m all about it, man.”

That’s 24 straight wins for the 2-time defending national champions, the only true North of this wide-open, no guarantees half-season overflowing with the unknown.

Teams we think are Playoff worthy, and those who prove they’re not. And, of course, coaches whose catastrophically bad decisions continue to end all hope.

This week, it was Oregon coach Dan Lanning, who was 3 unthinkably bad decisions from joining Georgia at the top of the Playoff wish list.

“This game is 100 percent on me,” Lanning said after a 36-33 loss at Washington.

Ladies and gentlemen, that’s underselling it.

Just when you think a coach couldn’t possibly make a worse decision than Miami’s Mario Cristobal did last week in failing to move into victory formation in a late loss to Georgia Tech, we give you Oregon’s 2nd-year coach.

The Ducks went on the road to Seattle, in a raucous environment at Husky Stadium against a bitter rival, and looked like — dare we say it? — Georgia.

A ping-pong first half of you score/I score got serious in the 2nd half when the Ducks suddenly (and maybe right on schedule) morphed into the team Lanning left 2 years ago as defensive coordinator to start his head coaching career in the Great Northwest.

Oregon was physical and intimidating. It was imposing its will on Washington, and had the Huskies’ point-a-minute offense wrecked with confusion and hesitation.

But instead of taking advantage of dominating the lines of scrimmage, Lanning doubled down on a poor decision to end the first half. Instead of kicking a gimme putt 20-yard field goal, Lanning chose to try to score on the last play of the half from the Washington 3.

And the play failed. That’s 3 points off the board.

Now we move to the 3rd quarter and the double down, in an identical down and distance situation. Once again, a throw from quarterback Bo Nix had no chance.

Poor play call, poor execution. Terrible coaching decision.

That’s 6 points taken off the board.

Then, the mother of all poor decisions: After stopping Washington on downs at the 1-foot line, Oregon punished the Huskies defense and roared to midfield over the next 10 plays.

It was a brutally impressive display of we’re tougher than you 4-minute offense. Then on (yet another) 4th-and-3 from the Washington 47 while leading 33-29 with 2:11 to play — some adventurous UDub fan is going to make a fortune on 4th-and-3 t-shirts — Lanning triple downed on stupid.

And I know this is going to shock you, but Nix’s pass fell incomplete.

Two plays later, Washington QB Michael Penix threw a dime to WR Rome Odunze for the game-winning points. That’s 13 gift points from Lanning.

Oregon’s potential 43-yard, game-tying field goal at the end of regulation? Had no chance — karma already had its grip on the Ducks.

Here’s the problem with the best game of the weekend: Washington won, but Oregon might have proven it is 1 of the best 4 teams in the nation. That and giving up $30 million in media rights revenue for the next 7 years will get each a ticket to the Big Ten in 2024 — and mean zero in the Playoff chase.

Oregon was probably the Pac-12’s best chance to advance to the Playoff, and now the Ducks, Washington, USC and Utah will more than likely dent and ding each other over the next 7 weeks of the season — and maybe no one from the Pac-12 will look pretty enough for the Playoff selection committee.

But the rest of the field is just as discombobulated.

We begin with the curious case of Michigan. If only the Wolverines played someone, anyone, with a pulse.

If only we had a legit idea of what the Wolverines are, instead of only believing they may be the best team in the nation. This week’s Saturday stretch was Indiana, which — I swear I’m not making this up — fired its offensive coordinator midseason and replaced him with a combination of 2 street free agent coaches.

This, of course, followed a steady diet of Moe, Larry and Curly to begin the season, and a few teams that somehow have kept their Big Ten cards throughout conference expansion.

Think I’m kidding? Michigan has played ECU, UNLV, Bowling Green, Rutgers, Nebraska, Minnesota and Indiana.

There was, however, a bit of a shock in the 52-7 win over the Hoosiers. The revamped IU offense — with Rockin’ Rod Carey and Justin Fuente now leading the way (see: street free agents) — scored a 1st quarter touchdown. Only the 3rd touchdown given up this season by Michigan’s starting defense.

“When we get punched in the mouth, we’re going to respond,” Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh said.

As you laugh at that, imagine new and improved — and definitely tough — Ohio State punching the Wolverines in the proverbial mouth. I’m not sure the college football world could handle Buckeyes coach Ryan Day’s post-game reaction with a win over Michigan.

There’s no truth to the rumor that Day was screaming at the beautiful ghost of Joe Tiller after Ohio State routed Purdue — and after someone, somewhere had the audacity to say Ohio State has oddly struggled at times in West Lafayette.

The good news is Day and Penn State coach James Franklin, who clearly enjoy fighting with the media, get to fight each other — their teams, people; it’s metaphorical — next week in Columbus.

One team survives and advances, the other may just be out of it. Michigan, meanwhile, will try to avoid getting punched in the mouth by an FCS school (actually, Michigan State).

USC’s Playoff hopes ended at Notre Dame (so did Caleb Williams’ Heisman Trophy repeat chances), and Florida State looked like the Florida State 1993 national championship team that was honored at halftime during a rout of Syracuse.

The same Florida State that still has the 2 best wins in the nation this season (LSU, at Clemson), and can’t get AP and coaches poll love.

“It’s not just about what the record says,” FSU coach Mike Norvell said. “Ultimately, I want to be better than what the record says with how we play.”

Fortunately for FSU, Pitt eliminated Louisville and kept the division-less ACC from having 3 unbeaten teams to finish the season — with the 1st tiebreaker opponent record. And you thought Cristobal and Lanning screwed the pooch.

If that’s not enough, we haven’t even addressed the elephant in the room. You Know Who is getting better each week.

And just when you think Alabama has been banished for good, when the Tide will have missed winning a national title in 3 straight seasons for the first time under Nick Saban, wait until this tidy scenario unfolds:

Alabama wins out, plays unbeaten Georgia in the SEC Championship Game and wins. Meanwhile, Texas gets another shot at unbeaten Oklahoma and wins.

Two teams, each with 1 loss and a head-to-head game between them: the Longhorns’ 10-point win in Tuscaloosa.

Is there any doubt Alabama is the choice of the prisoner of the moment Playoff committee?

Keep your hands and feet inside the car, kids. The demolition derby has just begun.