College Football Playoff committee snubs SEC, even with massive consequences potentially on the line
The first-ever 12-team College Football Playoff field has been released—and as you might expect, there's no shortage of controversy. Late last night, when Clemson triumphed over SMU in a close game, fans knew—according to the auto-qualifier rules—that there would be some drama today... and the committee delivered.
Coming down the stretch, most of the drama was centering around whether Alabama, Ole Miss, or South Carolina should get the final CFP spot. In a just world, it would be the Gamecocks taking home the final spot—despite the head-to-head losses to Ole Miss and the Tide, Carolina has no bad losses, really solid wins, and was one of the nation's hottest teams going into this weekend. This isn't even to mention the fact that they were one bad call away from being 10-2, rendering the whole discussion moot.
Even so, the committee decided to keep SMU in, and the auto-qualifier rules mean that Clemson will be in the playoff as well. The Mustangs only dropped one spot after losing to the Tigers in what was a clear reaction to Georgia and Florida State dropping out after conference championship weekend last year.
The committee seemed determined to keep teams from moving too far up or down after the championship games because of that. And for that reason, there could be more change on the horizon.
With Alabama, Ole Miss, and Carolina shut out, and the tough path provided to Tennessee (who will have to navigate a trip to the Horseshoe and a game against Oregon), the SEC powers that be cannot be happy with this job by the committee. And so, this could be a pivotal moment going forward.
We've heard rumblings for quite some time about a playoff setup that would benefit the SEC and Big 10 heavily going forward—with suggestions of up to 4 auto-qualifiers for each team. Do we see the nation's premier conference push even harder for a setup like that in the weeks to come?
Only time will tell. One thing is for sure, though: SEC fans cannot be satisfied with what this committee has done.