The SEC has now gone three straight seasons without a team in the College Football Playoff National Championship, and the league’s new nine-game conference schedule is what’s making it harder than ever to get multiple teams into the expanded CFP. Seriously, what are we even doing here? It feels like the biggest conference in college football is shooting itself in the foot, big time.
The “Gauntlet” That’s Becoming a Liability
SEC coaches are already pushing back on this nine-game schedule, and you can’t blame them. This change was supposed to strengthen their case for landing multiple teams in the expanded playoff, protect rivalries, all that good stuff. But the playoff is still at 12 teams! So, what happened? More conference games mean more losses. It’s not rocket science, right? This could leave several deserving SEC contenders with three or four defeats, competing against Power Four hopefuls who navigated way less demanding schedules. If the selection committee keeps prioritizing a clean win-loss record over *who* those wins came against, the SEC’s biggest advantage, its week-to-week gauntlet, becomes a massive liability. They’re literally penalizing themselves by playing each other. Remember that “record strength” metric from last fall, supposedly designed to give extra credit for beating quality teams? Yeah, it didn’t play out that way. Three-loss Texas was left out, and so was a 10-win Vanderbilt team. That’s just wild.
Sankey’s Big Schedule Bet Is Backfiring
Commissioner Greg Sankey watched his conference miss the CFP National Championship for a third straight season. You’d think after years of “discussion, analysis and debate” behind the scenes to avoid a competitive disadvantage with a nine-game slate, they’d have this figured out. But that’s exactly what might be happening if the current CFP format stays put and the committee keeps rewarding total wins. Sankey himself said it: “Now we, and I, recognize that a nine-game Southeastern Conference football schedule, coupled with our expectation that we maintain a high-quality non-conference opponent, creates one of the most, in fact, I’m going to scratch what I wrote, it creates, without question, the most demanding sets of football schedules in all of college football.” He admits it’s the toughest schedule, but history shows that a win-loss record still holds immense value for the committee. What’s even crazier is the SEC has “pumped the brakes all offseason” on further playoff expansion! They’re making it harder for themselves AND not advocating for the very thing that could help them. This move was supposed to *benefit* their national title chances, but will it?
There are some serious ramifications to consider before the SEC publicly backs any updated playoff format. You have to wonder what they’ll do next to get their league back into the national championship conversation. The stakes are too high for this kind of miscalculation.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by CBS Sports.
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