There was a time not so long ago when they threatened to do just this. Their own playoff, their own world.
And now it’s happening in the SEC. It’s just called the regular season.
“None of that stuff matters,” Oklahoma coach Brent Venables said when asked about the College Football Playoff, and the Sooners’ potential spot in it. “All we’re really about is the next one.”
Because the only thing that matters now is the unofficial SEC playoff, the grand idea floated a few years ago by SEC commissioner Greg Sankey and the presidents of the most powerful conference in college sports. You know, just in case non-stop bickering about — take your pick — the SEC, conference expansion, CFP playoff expansion and anything else blamed on the SEC became counterproductive to solutions the sport faced.
Or at least what the SEC thought were problems it faced.
Well here we are, and that very threat of a playoff is playing out before our eyes, week after week, big game after big game, since the middle of October.
Up next this weekend: No. 10 Texas at No. 5 Georgia, and No. 11 Oklahoma at No. 4 Alabama. And that’s just the beginning.
Texas plays Georgia and Texas A&M before the month is complete, and Oklahoma plays Alabama, Missouri and LSU. And if you see Missouri and think you’ve got to be kidding, look closer.
The Tigers lost by three to Alabama and by seven to Vanderbilt, before finally submitting last weekend to Texas A&M while playing a third-string quarterback ― because the first two sustained season-ending injuries.
And speaking of Vanderbilt, the Commodores aren’t out of this thing yet. Wins over Kentucky and Tennessee — which lost to Georgia by three and Oklahoma by six — brings a rare season to the brink of the unthinkable.
Every week is a new adventure, a reshuffling of the board and another path to the CFP for nine teams since the middle of October.
Tennessee fell off the pace in late October with an ugly loss to Alabama. Missouri dropped out last weekend after stepping in front of the rolling wrecking ball that is Texas A&M.
Think about this: We’ve reached the third weekend of games in November, and the SEC still has seven teams battling for the CFP by playing its own win or walk tournament.
The games are big, the television numbers are bigger. Imagine how much better the viewership would be if ESPN and YouTube stopped bickering over billions that each will, one way or the other, eventually get from the consumer.
Just how intense have these games become? Georgia, the king of the SEC of late, has been in fourth quarter games much of the conference season.
Beat Tennessee in overtime, lost to Alabama by three, beat Auburn (with the help of SEC officials) by a deceiving 10, came from behind to beat Ole Miss and Florida, and finally got a breather in a rout of Mississippi State.
“It felt different,” said Georgia coach Kirby Smart, after the Dawgs weren’t sweating out a fourth quarter for the first time since a win over Kentucky on Oct 4. “I mean, I had to find something to bitch about.”
Say what you want about the audacity of the SEC to even consider its own playoff, but the argument made by Sankey and the SEC presidents in 2022 — an argument that many in the league still believe — is undeniable now. An all-SEC tournament is a bigger television draw, a bigger potential revenue generator, than any other postseason — with the exception of the current CFP.
Which is what this exercise is all about, anyway.
Texas A&M is 6-0 in the SEC for the first time in school history, and just finished off three straight road wins with back-to-back routs of LSU and Missouri.
Texas climbed back into November with four straight wins, two in overtime and three one-possession games.
Oklahoma has split four games since mid-October, and will finish a brutal five-game run this weekend at Tuscaloosa. It’s survive and advance for everyone.
A playoff within the playoff, and one that could produce at least five selections to the CFP. One SEC team, more than likely, with three losses.
“For nine games, we’ve lived up to it,” said Texas A&M coach Mike Elko. “And we got to go finish.”
Their own playoff, their own world.
Playing out whether they planned it or not.
When do the next College Football Playoff rankings come out?
7 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 11 on ESPN.