After weekend of upsets in college football, you’d expect a slew of change so the projected playoff field. And there are a lot of changes after the Week 11 results. Just not involving new teams entering and entering.
The only new team is Mississippi, coming off its impressive home defeat of Georgia. That result also caused serious upheaval among the rest of the SEC teams in consideration. There are six legitimate contenders — the Rebels, the Bulldogs, Alabama, Tennessee, Texas and Texas A&M. Sorting out how the rest of the conference race will shake out and which teams will make the playoff as at-large teams is an exercise as difficult as splitting an atom at this point.
Most of the contenders will own victories and losses against the rest of the group. Only Texas and Texas A&M haven’t beaten one of the other six. That will change for the Longhorns and Aggies when they play on the final weekend. The loser could likely be left out of the field. That leaves one other team that has to depart because the chances of five SEC representatives is remote. Sadly for Tennessee fans, the Volunteers are that team. They travel to Georgia this week, and a loss would put them in a difficult position. Yes, Tennessee has a win against Alabama. They also have a loss to Arkansas. The same Arkansas that Mississippi beat by 32 point. In a conversation where the margins are small and you are splitting hairs, that could be decisive when the committee determines the field.
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This is, of course, where things stand right now. Much could change in the weeks ahead given the opportunity for Tennessee to all but confirm a spot Saturday by beating Georgia. Or Ole Miss, Texas or someone else could slip up. It certainly makes for a dramatic final four weeks before this debate reaches conclusion.
Note: Legacy Pac-12 schools in other conferences will fulfill existing Pac-12 bowl agreements through the 2025 season.