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SEC Is already The biggest loser of CFB Playoff First Round?
Posted on 12/22/25 at 4:59 am
Posted on 12/22/25 at 4:59 am
SEC the biggest loser?
"Texas A&M was awful against Miami. The Aggies scored three points, at home, against an ACC team that had a questionable case to reach the playoff at all. This is exactly the type of game the SEC is hypothetically undefeated in, and A&M was lucky to even be in the game at all.
Miami missed three field goals. The Aggies averaged a woeful 4.3 yards per play. At home. Against an ACC team. That ACC team averaged 5.7 yards per play and 6.2 yards per run against an SEC defensive line. Aggies quarterback Marcel Reed saw Mateer's performance against Bama and found a way to one up it........
But the results of 2017 or even 2021 aren't particularly relevant in the new world of NIL. The gap between teams and conferences has shrunk, dramatically. The SEC doesn't deserve the benefit of the doubt, just because of its conference patch. That's precisely what it got from the selection."
"Texas A&M was awful against Miami. The Aggies scored three points, at home, against an ACC team that had a questionable case to reach the playoff at all. This is exactly the type of game the SEC is hypothetically undefeated in, and A&M was lucky to even be in the game at all.
Miami missed three field goals. The Aggies averaged a woeful 4.3 yards per play. At home. Against an ACC team. That ACC team averaged 5.7 yards per play and 6.2 yards per run against an SEC defensive line. Aggies quarterback Marcel Reed saw Mateer's performance against Bama and found a way to one up it........
But the results of 2017 or even 2021 aren't particularly relevant in the new world of NIL. The gap between teams and conferences has shrunk, dramatically. The SEC doesn't deserve the benefit of the doubt, just because of its conference patch. That's precisely what it got from the selection."
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Posted on 12/22/25 at 5:05 am to Gator Fever
Can’t judge the whole conference on battered Aggie syndrome. I feel bad for them. Team peaked early and they didn’t rebound after losing to Texas. It happens. It just seems to always happen to them.
Posted on 12/22/25 at 5:23 am to Gator Fever
I know folks like taking their shots against the SEC, but fact is for the foreseeable future any team from the SEC or Big 10, for that matter, that goes 11-1 is going to host a playoff game.
Posted on 12/22/25 at 6:14 am to ukraine_rebel
Bama will stomp Indiana and shut this crap down.
Posted on 12/22/25 at 7:01 am to Gator Fever
A&M didn't win the conference... their conference opposition was so bad that, once they lost to Texas, they entered a 4-way tie for first that - using tie-breaker rules - had them dead last out of those 4 to take one of the two spots. They didn't play:
Georgia
Alabama
Ole Miss
Vanderbilt
Oklahoma
Teams they lost to:
Texas
The team with the most wins they actually beat:
Missouri (8 wins, 4-4 conference record)
Followed by LSU (7-5 overall, 3-5 conference record)
No one benefited from an easy schedule more than A&M.
Yes, they beat Notre Dame... who wussed out of the postseason so that they could claim they were unfairly left out rather than expose the fact that they played a two-game season and finished 0-2.
That said, the biggest loser of that game was Notre Dame, because nothing about that game screamed that these were two elite teams that barely beat Notre Dame - instead it implied those were two anemic teams with mediocre offenses.
Georgia
Alabama
Ole Miss
Vanderbilt
Oklahoma
Teams they lost to:
Texas
The team with the most wins they actually beat:
Missouri (8 wins, 4-4 conference record)
Followed by LSU (7-5 overall, 3-5 conference record)
No one benefited from an easy schedule more than A&M.
Yes, they beat Notre Dame... who wussed out of the postseason so that they could claim they were unfairly left out rather than expose the fact that they played a two-game season and finished 0-2.
That said, the biggest loser of that game was Notre Dame, because nothing about that game screamed that these were two elite teams that barely beat Notre Dame - instead it implied those were two anemic teams with mediocre offenses.
Posted on 12/22/25 at 7:44 am to Gator Fever
The biggest loser is the CFP committee for having rules that allowed for G5 trash to make the playoff.
Posted on 12/22/25 at 7:52 am to STATEofMIND
They are also arguably the worst SEC team in the playoff although that may not have been obvious at the time. We got 4 in, the bottom team competed and honestly its offense just absolutely blew a game their defense handed them against a top 10 opponent and now the SEC blows? Dumb take.
Posted on 12/22/25 at 7:55 am to Gator Fever
you're welcome. 
Posted on 12/22/25 at 8:31 am to RammerJammer91
quote:
The biggest loser is the CFP committee for having rules that allowed for G5 trash to make the playoff.
I know the G5 teams got hosed, but I remember ND losing the Championship game by 28, TCU lost by 58 to UGA. Bama beat Mich State 38-0 in a playoff game, Clemson beat Ohio State 31-0. Blowouts happen.
Posted on 12/22/25 at 8:33 am to Gator Fever
I think G5 is unequivocally the biggest loser there, but we knew that before Saturday morning.
Posted on 12/22/25 at 9:06 am to Gator Fever
Ian Miller is a West Coast clown who makes his living bashing the SEC.He's a West Coast version of Danny Kannel
Posted on 12/22/25 at 9:17 am to Tzanghi
quote:The SEC got 5 teams in.
We got 4 in
UGA
Bama
Ole Miss
OU
A&M
This post was edited on 12/22/25 at 9:18 am
Posted on 12/22/25 at 10:39 am to RammerJammer91
quote:
The biggest loser is the CFP committee for having rules that allowed for G5 trash to make the playoff.
Trash is a bit harsh. If the NFL took the 2 CFB teams that play in the National Title game and put them on the field against the 2 worst teams in the NFL the NFL teams would beat the CFB teams about like Ole Miss beat Tulane. The G5 is just not playing the same game. Mississippi State, Arkansas and Kentucky were all far superior to either Tulane or JMU this season....its not the same game.
The inclusion of the G5 teams is there to avoid anti-trust litigation. Barring them explicitly is straight out....but doing so for all practical matters would lead to very expensive litigation which is frankly un-needed. As fans we would have much rather seen ACC Champ Duke playing in Oregon than JMU but from a practical stand point its not worth the litigation. The game Friday was as good as college football gets. Miami and ATM stunk up the joint for some inexplicable reason that is probably soundly exposed in 2 weeks....the reason being that neither is very good. The other 2 games were never going to be interesting....they'd have been on the SEC Streaming service had it been September. They were scheduled and played so the CFP committee can say they had a shot.
Football ain't basketball. Basketball is probably more physical but it requires far fewer resources. Football played at the highest level is not only physical but its also damned expensive....and there are about 40, if that, programs with the resources to compete at the highest level....but you have to pretend like everyone has an equal shot or you risk being accused of illegally barring competition even though the other 100 or so programs choose to bar themselves. Its a mess and it will probably happen again next year.
Posted on 12/22/25 at 10:41 am to justjoe906
quote:
Bama will stomp Indiana and shut this crap down.
If they had a viable running game I would agree. But they don’t, so I don’t.
Posted on 12/22/25 at 10:45 am to ukraine_rebel
quote:
I know folks like taking their shots against the SEC, but fact is for the foreseeable future any team from the SEC or Big 10, for that matter, that goes 11-1 is going to host a playoff game.
Hell UGA was 12-1 this season and ain't hosting a game. The games that Oregon and Ole MIss played are akin to scrimmages during a month off. Historically even elite teams have looked stale in the first quarter or so of bowl games, even high stake bowl games have seen it. Unless I am mistaken last year no one with a BYT made it past their first bowl game? That is a problem. The playoff should be expanded to 16 teams based on the AP Poll and if Cincinatti or Boise State is in they're in and if they aren't they aren't. #1 hosts #16 and so on. It will be interesting to see if the conference champions with a bye fair better this season....
Posted on 12/22/25 at 10:50 am to Gator Fever
The SEC can win it all and still be the biggest loser because of the conference championship game and the month off between then and the next game. Anyway you slice it winning a conference championship game is a penalty if it is accompanied with a month off between games. Ohio State may be fricked the worst of anyone having played in and lost a conference game and having a month to stew over it.....the current system favors #5 the most and #6 just a little less.
Posted on 12/22/25 at 10:53 am to AwgustaDawg
The SEC needs Bama to beat Indiana and to win the playoff to stop all this talk since the last playoff.
Posted on 12/22/25 at 10:55 am to AwgustaDawg
quote:
The inclusion of the G5 teams is there to avoid anti-trust litigation. Barring them explicitly is straight out....but doing so for all practical matters would lead to very expensive litigation which is frankly un-needed.
I've been hearing these antitrust chants for years now. Negotiate. ESPN could invite the G-5 into a hellava playoff format, and frankly, football fans would tune it over this holiday bowl stuff between 6-6 midtier teams or Power 4. All ot nothing, a ton of money, home games, a great championship venue on primetime, has always been the way to create interest, and this is no different.
Just freaking do it, Sports TV.
Posted on 12/22/25 at 11:06 am to Gator Fever
Maybe the SEC needs to revisit scheduling? Only reason A&M got in was because of their schedule. That should be the focus on how the SEC prevents such things from happening again.
Posted on 12/22/25 at 11:08 am to bamameister
quote:
I've been hearing these antitrust chants for years now. Negotiate. ESPN could invite the G-5 into a hellava playoff format, and frankly, football fans would tune it over this holiday bowl stuff between 6-6 midtier teams or Power 4. All ot nothing, a ton of money, home games, a great championship venue on primetime, has always been the way to create interest, and this is no different.
Just freaking do it, Sports TV.
Football fans would devour it but I don't know that there are enough of us to make it lucrative. When there are 15 million viewers watching Alabama and UGA in a natty game (I am guessing at numbers) I would bet not more than a million of them would watch the old PAC12 after dark.....and it was more compelling than the G5. The harsh truth is that outside of maybe 40 programs there just isn't enough interest. CFB is a Saturday appetizer the most popular sports programming in the US, the NFL, on Sundays. The vast majority of the audience watching even high profile matchups aren't really watching....the TV is on but they are doing all manner of shite. Watching Central Florida and Georgia State is just never going to be interesting enough to attract millions of viewers. in my opinion. And those two have MASSIVE alumni groups....probably 2 of the largest such groups on the planet.
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