First, the Big 12, ACC and Pac-12 champs have at least two losses.
Second, Notre Dame and BYU don’t get through the regular season with 1 loss or less (since they play each other, that’s gonna help) and there’s no Cincinnati running the table in the Group of 5.
Third, let’s say the Suckeyes run the table in the B1G and everybody else has at least two losses.
Which leaves the SEC. Say Bama goes 12-0 in the West, Georgia 12-0 in the East, and a second place team goes 11-1. Could be us, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ole Miss (Moo U plays Georgia which makes that difficult).
Can you imagine the detonations if the playoffs are three SEC teams and tOSU?
I have seen some prognosticators have three SEC picks this year for the playoffs. I also do no think it will happen but heads would explode if that third team was the Hogs!
All of the prognosticators who picked the hogs so far have us as the third sec team in the playoffs. Nobody has picked us ahead of Georgia and Alabama fwiw. I think it’s super unlikely. I think it would take us beating bama AND finishing with one loss or less. Bama could afford two losses if one of them was in the sec championship game and they kept it close, but not us. If our second loss was in the sec championship we would be left out watching a one loss bama in the playoffs. I guess all the speculation on different situations just reiterates the bottom line main goal every year should be to win the sec period.
Nobody has yet made the playoffs with two losses. If an SEC team were the first to do so, that would also cause detonating craniums. It’ll happen in the 12-team format, but not yet in 4-team.
I agree with you, and other than a wild hare or a plodding one-game-at-a-time successful march through that mid season stretch starting with the Aggies and ending with Liberty, I picked Arkansas to go undefeated due to A&M and Jimbo being overrated and playing BAMA in Fayetteville. The two killers remain Miss State at Starkville and BYU in the far West. Bama is a challenge but I feel the challenges will be defensing MSU passing game and staying power at 4550 feet playing in Provo. No other college team has the consecutive test of those four games. Of course, then the Razorback descend to an open date and recharging for the five remaining games.
Unless there’s your hypothetical scenario where everyone in the big12 pac12 acc byu notre dame all have 2 losses, bama/ Saban would surely get in with two losses. But I just see several big market teams they’ll pick ahead of the hogs every time if possible. USC, Texas, Florida State etc. We have to go win the sec west
My simple mind says you better beat Missouri State on Saturday, then one game at a time. Getting ahead of yourself mentally usually doesn’t end well. But, it is an interesting thought provoking scenario, just too much of a reach for me this early in the season. Check back in a month and if we are undefeated going into our bye weekend, I may feel different about it.
See I’m not really framing it as us. It could be us, but it could also be Kentucky or Tennessee or the Flopnecks, or any other SEC team that is 2-0 right now. Or even Bama if somebody else wins the West.