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Greg Sankey likens College Football Playoff decisions to Sesame Street

On3-Social-Profile_GRAYby:On3 Staff Report•12/02/23
its-not-the-end-of-the-world-but-the-secs-stopgap-eight-game-2024-schedule-deserves-all-its-flak
After debating various models for more than 18 months, the SEC agreed on a “stop-gap” eight-game (1 permanent rival, seven rotating opponents) schedule in 2024. (Marvin Gentry-USA TODAY Sports)

As conference championship weekend continues the College Football Playoff picture is still fully up in the air, with only Washington so far cementing its likely spot in the postseason.

The SEC is in great shape to snag a bid, but there does remain a slim outside chance that if Alabama were to beat Georgia and other results shook out a certain way that the SEC could be left out of the playoff.

That possibility was suggested to SEC commissioner Greg Sankey on ESPN’s College Gameday and he had a colorful metaphor to blow holes in the idea.

“That’s not the real world of college football,” Sankey said. “Let’s go back to like Sesame Street so we’re really basic: One of these things is not like the others, and that’s the Southeastern Conference. We have five of the top 15. We have five of the top 15.”

Sankey obviously felt pretty good about his metaphor, too, tweeting out a Sesame Street graphic featuring several red balloons and one blue balloon with the caption “One of these things.”

His point was that the SEC is a loaded conference that is incredibly tough to win on an annual basis. That should be rewarded by the College Football Playoff committee.

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“We have five of the top 15, so a third,” Sankey said. “And our teams are playing everyone in the conference. They’re all attached. They have to overcome a lot of adversity, intense environments. There are going to be close games. But the reality is there’s been no one that has experienced success in the postseason, the College Football Playoff, than we have.”

While the College Football Playoff committee can’t consider information from outside of this year, the reality is that Sankey isn’t wrong. The SEC has been dominant in the postseason for the better part of two decades now.

Alabama and Georgia have both been a huge part of that.

So Sankey actually sees things a little differently. He thinks an Alabama win on Saturday should get the College Football Playoff committee thinking a different way altogether.

“When you put us up actually against the teams rather than in the committee rooms, we stand alone,” Sankey said. “And we stand alone this year, regardless of today’s outcome. But I think the opportunity in front of the committee is to acknowledge that there could be, depending on the outcome, two of the best four teams from the SEC.”