Here's the story for the five SEC teams likely in the CFP field-- and what this weekend could mean for each of them.
It wouldn't be a College Football Playoff without plenty of SEC teams. Heading into championship weekend, which is a notorious breeding ground for chaos, the league looks all but guaranteed to place five teams in the CFP field.
How did they do it? What could upset things? Here's a pre-Championship Week SEC Playoff primerThe Bulldogs are certainly in the CFP field, regardless of what happens in the SEC championship game this weekend. The question for Georgia is whether they will secure a top 4 spot and a first-round Playoff bye. While Georgia fans might prefer to play a first round game , the Bulldogs themselves would probably gladly take the extra week off. Win in the SEC title gme and they're golden. Lose and they probably have to host a first-round game.Ole Miss and A&M missed the SEC title game, and as they areNo. 6 and No. 7, they're both safely in the field and both likely to end up hosting first-round Playoff games. It's hard to imagine a situation where a pair of one-loss SEC teams wouldn't be in the field. Could either jump into the first-round byes? It's certainly possible. It would probably require Ohio State thumping Indiana while Texas Tech loses to BYU. Alabama upsetting Georgia might slightly help the possibility. But in all likelihood, these two are first-round hosts.Oklahoma was ninth in the most recent rankings, which seems to suggest security. The Sooners are probably hoping to hang on to a seventh or eighth spot to host a home game, instead of slipping to ninth and having to play a first-round game on the road. Of course, Oklahoma lost to Texas, so there will be come hand-wringing there. But it's the third Texas loss to 4-8 Florida that's going to keep the Longhorns home.Alabama starts out ninth in the most recent rankings. Could an SEC title game loss knock them out? Unlikely but not impossible. While the CFP would probably prefer not to punish a team for making its conference title game, a three-loss Alabama team might be a hard sell over, say a two-loss BYU team or a two-loss Miami team. Obviously, if Alabama wins, they're in the field. Could they even end up claiming a bye? Far from impossible. Georgia falls out of the top four if Alabama beats them. Texas Tech would fall out if they lost to BYU. A particularly impressive win could just Alabama into the top four. It would definitely jump them into a hosting seed for the first-round game at the very least.Alabama and linebacker Deontae Lawson could see a massive CFP shift depending on how the SEC championship game goes down this weekend. | John Reed-Imagn ImagesJoe is a journalist and writer who covers college and professional sports. He has written or co-written over a dozen sports books, including several regional best sellers. His last book, A Fine Team Man, is about Jackie Robinson and the lives he changed. Joe has been a guest on MLB Network, the Paul Finebaum show and numerous other television and radio shows. He has been inside MLB dugouts, covered bowl games and conference tournaments with Saturday Down South and still loves telling the stories of sports past and present.
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