Rece Davis addresses college football parity in 2023: 'I do think the SEC is down'

For a while, it seemed as if every college football season was going to end with Clemson and Alabama facing off in the College Football Playoff. That’s certainly not the case anymore.

Clemson has missed the College Football Playoff each of the past two seasons and already has a pair of losses in 2023. Meanwhile Alabama missed the playoff last year and seems like a long shot to reach it this season as Nick Saban‘s club already has one loss, with several tough matchups remaining.

ESPN host Rece Davis joined the Pat McAfee Show on Friday and shared that he believes there is a ton of parity in college football at the moment.

“It felt like a foregone conclusion some years that as long as the teams at the top didn’t trip up, that we knew what it was going to look like in the playoff,” Davis said. “Everybody feels like they have a chance [now]. Like we were at Duke last week – Duke. And they were like, ‘Hey, if we get by Notre Dame here we’re going to get to that ACC Championship game and knock off Florida State and we’ve got a chance.’ So yea, I think that makes it different. It sort of energizes everybody.”

There are no teams that appear to be locks to reach the College Football Playoff at this point.

Each conference has multiple contenders who could come out on top. Davis feels that this college football season is shaping up to be special. With that said, he also expects some schools to be frustrated because they are left out at the end of the year.

“There will be really good teams left out this year, because I think in past years, there’s been a gulf – not just a gap but a gulf between Alabama, Ohio State, Clemson most years, Georgia and everybody else,” Davis said.

“Everybody else has been a pretty significant step back. Whoever you deem as the best teams this year, I don’t think there’s this big step down. And so I think you have probably eight to 12 teams who are kind of all together. And it’s going to come down to which game do you lose, do you lose badly, do you get knocked out of your conference championship?”

Davis added that he believes the SEC is trying to position itself to get multiple teams in. However, he’s not sure that’s a real possibility.

The league is viewed nationally as having taken a step back, but coaches in the league have pushed back on that notion. That includes Georgia coach Kirby Smart, who recently said that every SEC team should be ranked.

“I do think the SEC is posturing, and I do think the SEC is down compared to what it’s been,” Davis said.

It will be fun to see how the next few months of the college football season play out and what the CFP eventually looks like.

“Most years, maybe there’s a fanbase that’s mad. Maybe they have a beef, but it’s one. Maybe in 2014 there were two. This year there could be a bunch, and there are a lot of reasons for it,” Davis said.