The first 12-team College Football Playoff projects to be an SEC party. Nine SEC teams profile as playoff hopefuls, but not all of them can qualify.
Four playoff teams from the SEC seems reasonable. What about five? That’s a stretch, but doable if the SEC catches a few breaks.
On today's episode, hosts Blake Toppmeyer and John Adams unpack the SEC’s playoff outlook and handicap the hurdles standing in the way of the SEC qualifying as many as five teams.
Start with the Big Ten, which is the only conference that could threaten to qualify as many teams as the SEC. But, three qualifiers seems more likely for the Big Ten than five.
What about Notre Dame? The Irish snagging an at-large bid hurts the SEC’s chances for five, but Texas A&M might wreck Notre Dame in Week 1.
The Big 12 is the sleeper agent that could spoil the SEC’s five-qualifier quest.
Later in the episode, Toppmeyer and Adams highlight four sneaky-good nonconference games to watch this season.