SEC coaches wailed and wailed.
The initial playoff rankings ought to soothe the SEC.
Ah, who am I kidding, crying is just what some college football coaches do, no matter the circumstances. So, the tears will freely flow, even as the love pours in from the committee.
The SEC’s crybaby coaches screeched all offseason about the addition of a ninth conference game and the subtraction of a cupcake. Their thesis: The playoff selection committee would not reward the SEC’s decision to voluntarily toughen its schedule.
There was always a problem with that party line. We hadn’t yet seen how the committee would react to the SEC beefing up its schedule. Maybe, it would love the SEC’s new schedule.
barely notices
The first bit of evidence emerged this week, and it’s never been clearer: The playoff committee has raging affection and mad respect for the SEC and its schedule.
Dry those tears, SEC coaches.
The committee delivered a humbling set of rankings for the Big Ten, which faces the shockingly real possibility of qualifying only two or maybe even just one team.
The committee held Notre Dame accountable for its squishy schedule.
Aside from No. 3 Utah, the Big 12 didn’t move the committee’s needle.
The committee treated the ACC as if it barely existed.
These CFP rankings amount to an SEC slobber-fest, and anyone still grumbling about the nine-game conference schedule needs to chew on a pacifier.
SEC doesn’t need 24-team bracket. It needs better playoff performance
If the playoff started tomorrow, the SEC would qualify five teams, compared to the Big Ten’s two. The SEC needs to wake up and realize the 12-team playoff is a gift.
Anyone inside the SEC who views these rankings and still craves a 24-team bracket is simply blinded by a desire for participation ribbons.
Truth is, bracket access never burdened the SEC in the 12-team playoff era. Playoff performance became the conference's issue the past two seasons. That can only be solved on the field, not by doubling the size of the bracket.
It’s tough to envision a scenario in which the rival Big Ten would qualify as many or more teams as the SEC, in what could be the final installment of the 12-team playoff, if the SEC allows itself to be hoodwinked by the Big Ten’s 24-team plan.
The Big Ten will get little rankings sympathy here — and none from the committee — after it fizzled in throughout the nonconference schedule, and preseason frontrunner Oregon flopped hard.
SEC coaches cried schedule wouldn’t be rewarded. They were wrong
As recently as last week, Texas coach Steve Sarkisian smeared the SEC's scheduling strategy and reaffirmed his skepticism of the selection committee.
“Any way you slice it, it's eight more losses” for the SEC’s cumulative record, Sarkisian said. “So, if you are fortunate enough to be part of that discussion from the committee, how much is the committee going to value one more conference game?”
Apparently, quite a bit.
Texas joins Alabama and Mississippi as the only two-loss teams ranked within the top 10.
LSU coach Lane Kiffin said just last month the extra conference game was “a poor decision and really not thought out.”
Kiffin predicted in the offseason that until the playoff expands or the selection process changes, “10-2 is in, and 9-3 is out,” so why toughen up the schedule?
“I don’t think that anybody now, now that they’ve seen how selections have gone, thinks that there’s value in that” extra conference game, Kiffin said in the offseason.
Kiffin emerged as the chief critic of the ninth SEC game, but don’t for a second believe he was the only one crying.
As Missouri’s Eli Drinkwitz put it before the season, SEC coaches were “all saying” they had buyer's remorse about a ninth conference game.
So much preseason crying from the SEC penthouse, and still the committee gave nothing but love in return.
News flash: The playoff committee always has respected the SEC’s strength of schedule, and not selected teams strictly off record. How else to explain 10-3 Alabama qualifying last year over 11-2 Brigham Young?
Now, with the extra scheduling beef, the committee foams with affection for the SEC logo. It helps the SEC, too, that it dominated throughout September against teams from the other Power Four conferences.
Playoff committee in love with SEC in initial rankings
Let’s review the S-E-C, S-E-C adoration in these rankings:
∎ At No. 5, Alabama is the nation’s top-ranked two-loss team. The Crimson Tide are up four spots in these rankings compared to their spot in the US LBM Coaches Poll. The Tide rank three spots ahead of No. 8 UCLA. Strength of schedule matters.
∎ At No. 7, Texas got big-time respect for its bundle of signature wins, despite also losing twice in the face of a juggernaut schedule. This ranking signaled the committee's appetite for Texas. The Longhorns probably would have a path to qualification at 9-3. Like Alabama, the CFP gave Texas a four-spot boost, compared to the Coaches Poll.
∎ Ten SEC teams are ranked in these playoff rankings, and nine of the 10 are ranked higher by the CFP than in the Coaches Poll. Georgia is the lone exception. It ranked No. 2 in each ranking.
One more SEC game, and one fewer cupcake. didn't go unnoticed.
The surest path to the playoff is to never lose, but if you must lose once or twice or thrice, do it against a tough schedule, while sporting an SEC logo on the uniforms.
Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network's senior national college football columnist. Listen to his podcast, "College Football Unfiltered." Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: SEC coaches can put away the pacifiers. CFP committee loves them
