In honor of the inaugural College Football Playoff Top 25 Poll released earlier this week, the SDS staff projects how many SEC teams will reach the four-team playoff this winter.

HOW MANY SEC TEAMS REACH THE COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF?

Jon Cooper (@JonSDS): Two

Prior to Tuesday night’s unveiling, I would have said the College Football Playoff will do everything in its power to make sure only one SEC team makes it. However, I think there will be two one-loss teams in the SEC West, and the West winner will win the SEC Championship and get the obvious No. 1 slot in the CFP. However, the one-loss SEC West runner-up will also get in. I’m going with my gut here, but two SEC teams will make the playoff.

Brad Crawford (@BCrawfordSDS): Two

Two teams appears to be a safe bet if you take expected Western Division cannibalism into account. I’m taking Ole Miss to win out and capture the SEC Championship with one loss and Alabama to reach the Playoff as an 11-1 at-large selection. The only way the SEC is squeezed out of a second bid is if the Pac-12 and Big XII champions along Florida State all finish with one-loss or fewer. If the Seminoles lose, I don’t think there’s anyway they could reach the Playoff. That would give Michigan State an opportunity.

Drew Laing (@DLaingSDS): Two

I think two eventually will make it into the final four spots. In the likely scenario, there will be two one-loss SEC West teams atop the polls and probably a two-loss UGA team close up there as well. One spot will be reserved for the SEC Champion and I think with other teams falling off in the latter part of the season, another SEC West team has a good enough record to be in the final four without making it to Atlanta.

Ethan Levine (@EthanLevineSDS): One

I think one SEC team gets in not because the conference is deserving of just one team, but because the conference’s top teams are about to begin knocking each other down to the ranks of the two-loss teams, effectively eliminating them from playoff contention. I see Florida State, Notre Dame, Michigan State the Big XII champion and perhaps even Oregon all finishing the year with one loss, forcing the committee to make some tough decisions come season’s end. Likewise, I think every SEC team but one will end the year with two losses, limiting the SEC to just the one-loss team as its playoff representative. There are still five games remaining between the SEC’s five one-loss teams this season, and that’s not even counting the SEC Championship Game. The SEC’s best are about to start beating up on one another, which will only benefit the rest of the college football universe outside the Southeast.

Mack Dalton (@MackDalton): Two

Despite a strong showing by the committee showing they didn’t let the “SEC bias” talk get to them, I just don’t think there is any way they will put three SEC teams in the final four. Plus, with the upcoming games, teams are going to start losing to each other, knocking teams down a peg. For example, the loser of the Auburn vs. Ole Miss game is almost certainly out, unless chaos ensues down the stretch, which of course, is entirely possible. I have a feeling that there will be a fair amount of weirdness going down in the remainder of the year, so I wouldn’t even be surprised if the final four was completely different than this first poll.

Christopher Smith (@CsmithSDS): One

Florida State will win out and finish the season undefeated. Oregon will exercise its demons against Stanford and collect a Pac-12 title with one loss and a win against Michigan State in its quiver. Michigan State and whichever team emerges from the Big 12 cluster also will present great cases to the committee. There will be more attrition, but it’s more likely to hit the SEC than any other conference. I expect Auburn and Ole Miss to fall out of contention by the end of the regular season, and Georgia likely enters the SEC championship as an underdog. Can the second SEC West team overcome some of the other contenders in other conferences? Yes. In my mind it’s a coin-flip proposition at present as to one or two SEC playoff teams. But it wouldn’t surprise me if the West champion is the only conference team in the national semifinals.

Jason Hall (@JasonHallSDS): Two

This weekend’s game between Auburn and Ole Miss will knock one team out of the running. As it stands, Mississippi State, Auburn, Ole Miss and Alabama are all still in the running. But with several matchups left between them, only two teams will end the season with only one loss, meaning two teams from the SEC will reach the four-team playoff.