Greg Sankey talks SEC dominance in College Football Playoff after Georgia's win

The SEC is the dominant force in the College Football Playoff and commissioner Greg Sankey would not have it any other way.

Georgia defeated Ohio State 42-41 in the Peach Bowl, one of two semifinal games, and advanced to its second straight national championship game. The Bulldogs have a chance to repeat when they take on TCU Monday. 

Speaking on Sirius XM, Sankey was on edge seeing the Buckeyes nearly pull out a win, but discussed his conference’s dominance in the playoff format.

“At the beginning of the fourth quarter, I’ve never been to the national championship without a team and we’ve had two teams twice,” Sankey said. “It wasn’t looking great. So to have the outcome we had and have a team with us is what we expect so, we want to credit Ohio State. That’s a great football game. It means a great deal. It means more as we say.”

Sankey then talked about having Georgia in back-to-back title games following its victory over Ohio State and the title win over SEC foe Alabama last season.

“We’re the only conference that had three different teams win national championships,” Sankey said. “We’re the only conference that has had two teams play in the national championship game. And we’re the conference that’s won the most. So we’ve got yet another opportunity. And I think that’s the expectation we’ve set. 

“You know I’ve been on the road watching Tennessee last night, and I watched Alabama this morning. We want to play high level college football and that’s the challenge we have.”

When speaking on the podium with Rece Davis postgame, Smart admitted Georgia still has a few things to clean up. Yes, a win is a win, but allowing 41 points to Ohio State is not something the head coach is going to be happy with. Even the offense sputtered at times before coming alive in the clutch.

“Well, after watching that performance, we got a lot to clean up,” Smart said. “We got a lot to clean up tomorrow.”

Smart was not 100% critical though, praising how his team fought through everything. Winning a CFP semifinal game is never an easy task, even for a dominant program such as Georgia. Especially against a program such as Ohio State.

“I’m so proud of these guys,” Smart said. “They never say quit. They never say die. They were like a sniper tonight. They came out shooting and they never quit shooting.”