It’s all unfolding now, week after week like some sick joke. And there’s not a thing the most powerful conference in college sports can do about it.
The SEC is eating itself on the road to the College Football Playoff, a self-destructive stretch that will no doubt finish with the worst possible scenario.
A tiebreaker deciding who plays in the SEC championship game, and the College Football Playoff selection committee deciding which deserving, two-loss SEC teams stay home from the sport’s postseason extravaganza.
“This was complementary football at its best,” Florida coach Billy Napier said late Saturday afternoon after the Gators officially knocked LSU from the playoff race. “Felt like an NFL game.”
You wanted this NFL Light model, you got it, SEC. And everything that goes with building the perfect beast of a conference.
Florida hadn’t won a significant game in three seasons in Gainesville, but because the talent is there with the deep NIL budgets of every SEC school, odds are they’d eventually put it all together. And now LSU is out.
South Carolina, maybe the hottest team in the conference, officially eliminated Missouri from the SEC/CFP race with a last-minute victory. Hey, everyone, a last-minute victory in the SEC!
Shocking, I tell you.
Finally we give you Georgia, the biggest, baddest SEC boogeyman. You didn’t really think the Dawgs were down for good after losing by 18 last week at Ole Miss, did you?
Georgia quarterback Carson Beck threw 12 interceptions over the previous six games (tied for most in the nation), then played the best game of his career while the Dawgs gave Tennessee its second loss of the season.
STAR TURN: Carson Beck shows up when Georgia needs him most
UP AND DOWN: Florida, Colorado lead Week 12 winners and losers
If you’re scoring at home, that’s two SEC teams with one conference loss (Texas, Texas A&M), and four with two losses (Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Ole Miss).
“It’s hard to play on the road in this league,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said after his team salvaged its season. “I keep saying that.”
Maybe someone on the CFP selection committee will listen. Or maybe Indiana, which has played no game of significance all season, is in the CFP ― win or lose at Ohio State next week.
Maybe Brigham Young will win out, and then win or lose in the Big 12 championship game, is in the CFP. Maybe the SEC gets four teams, or maybe it gets three.
Maybe the Big Ten gets four, despite two of those four – Indiana, Penn State – advancing without a win of significance all season. Just in case you think none of that could really happen, check out last week’s rankings.
Texas and Penn State have played a combined 20 games this season. They’ve beaten one CFP-ranked team between them (Penn State against Illinois).
They were both ranked in the top five last week.
“I don’t know what they look for anymore,” Smart said.
Here’s what they should see: Alabama beat Georgia, which beat Tennessee, which beat Alabama. And Ole Miss beat Georgia.
Later this month, a one-loss SEC team (Texas or Texas A&M) will beat the other.
It’s conceivable – and likely – that five of the six teams will finish with two conference losses to finish the season. Just how crazy could this November shakeout get?
The loser of the Texas-Texas A&M game could be out of the CFP. Because the loser of that game won’t have a resume comparable to the other two-loss SEC teams.
As damaging: The loser of the SEC championship game is likely out of the CFP, too.
“Look, it’s harder than ever,” Napier said of competing and winning in the SEC.
This is the beast they built. And there’s nothing they can do about it now.
Matt Hayes is the senior national college football writer for USA TODAY Sports Network. Follow him on X at @MattHayesCFB.