Andy Staples predicts five SEC teams will make the College Football Playoff

The SEC has been a premier conference in college athletics and only got better on July 1st with the additions of Texas and Oklahoma. That’s why, amongst his predictions for this upcoming season, Andy Staples fully expects that to continue in the College Football Playoff.

Staples gave 10 predictions for 2024 during Tuesday’s episode of his show. One of his first was that five teams from the Southeastern Conference would make this year’s expanded playoff. As he said, that realization came after he looked at last season’s final ratings as well as his own preseason ones.

“When I did my post-spring Top-25, I got done and I realized, ‘Wait, I have five SEC teams in the playoff here. Is that too many? Do I need to adjust it?’. And I thought, ‘No, I don’t think I do,'” Staples said. “Let’s look at how last season ended – there were seven teams that will be in the SEC in 2024 in the Top-13 of the College Football Playoff rankings. That was Texas, Alabama, Georgia, Ole Miss, Missouri, LSU, and Oklahoma all in the Top-13 of the College Football Playoff rankings.”

Now, to be clear, it’ll take some work by several programs to accomplish that considering the rules to get into the field, especially with three other major conferences trying to get more than their conference champion in. Still, five teams in 11 spots is doable for the SEC according to Staples.

“The SEC is very deep right now. The Big Ten is trying to get that deep. I will be curious to see which Big Ten teams we’re talking about because those are the ones that are probably going to be fighting with the SEC teams for these spots,” Staples said. “Then you’ve got the Big 12 where it feels like anybody can win it. The ACC? We’re going to talk about that in a second.”

“I’m thinking can the SEC get five teams in that Top-11? And, yeah, I do think it’s possible,” said Staples.

Now let’s get to the actual picks for who Staples thinks can get in from the league.

To start, Staples has an accepted quartet in Georgia, Texas, Alabama, and Ole Miss. Those four among the top teams in the country coming in and each expect to contend for the conference and national titles.

“Alabama, Georgia, and Texas, from a roster standpoint, are capable of competing for the national title. It doesn’t mean they’re going to have the perfect seasons but you don’t have to have the perfect season anymore. So we think those three teams are going to get in and we think maybe one of those teams is going to win the SEC,” Staples explained. “We think those three teams would probably get in. Texas and Ole Miss – both of those feel like got good schedule draws. Alabama and Georgia? They got a little bit tougher schedule draws. But Texas and Ole Miss got good schedule draws. Ole Miss? The roster looks good. Ole Miss would have made it last year in this system.”

From there, Staples has four more where, if their respective seasons go well, they could make the field too. Missouri and Tennessee make cases after being in the running a year ago and developing into this one. After that, Oklahoma and LSU are just too consistent as brands for him not to include them in the conversation.

“Missouri would have made it last year in this system. Now I don’t know if Missouri this year is going to be as good. We’ll talk a little more about the Tigers later. We know their defense needs to be, you know, replenished. I’m not worried about their offense. So they’re a contender. Tennessee got a great schedule draw. Should be better on offense, should be as good or better on defense. They’ve got a good situation,” continued Staples. “Oklahoma and LSU are Oklahoma and LSU. Now, yes, their schedules are a little bit tougher but these are programs that always are good. Like, their baseline is good. So, if some of the breaks go their way, they could be 10-win regular season teams. They could be in the playoff. I think it’s possible.”

It’s going to be a tall task to essentially field half of the playoff berths from out of one conference. If any of them have a chance, though, it could be the SEC as Staples is going as far as to go ahead and predict it for this fall.

“Right now, I’m saying five SEC teams in that first 12-team playoff,” Staples stated.