Nick Saban, Tim Tebow evaluate SEC, potential eight-team tiebreaker scenario

Nick Saban and Tim Tebow looked at a disaster eight-team tiebreaker scenario for the SEC and basically said throw it in the trash.

The quality of the SEC is up this year as multiple teams could make the College Football Playoff. As in, anywhere between three and five teams.

So while both men don’t think that’s happening, the strength of schedule has to be looked at for the playoff.

“I do not think it happens,” Tebow said on College GameDay. “I don’t know that Auburn is prepared to knock somebody off this year. Let’s just be honest about that. But I love seeing the chaos, and I think the committee also has to understand the gauntlet that all these teams are going through, and I don’t believe they’re really giving them a lot of respect. 

“They’re just looking at the number in the loss column, and they’re not really understanding the gauntlet that all these teams are going through. Because if you want to talk about the best teams, and you’re going to say that this Georgia team on a neutral field wouldn’t beat some of those teams ranked ahead of them? Cmon.”

The teams would be Tennessee, Texas A&M, Texas, Georgia, Ole Miss, Alabama, Missouri and LSU all finishing with a 6-2 conference record.

Georgia hosts Tennessee Saturday night in what could be a do or die game for the SEC and CFP.

“I think really what you have to look at is this strength of schedule thing has been underplayed a little bit,” Saban said. “I mean, what would these teams do if they played Georgia’s schedule? This is the fifth top 20 team Georgia has played. But on the other hand, I think there’s three teams that kind of distinguished themselves a little bit in the SEC even though they’re not perfect. 

“Alabama plays very well when Jalen Milroe plays well and the team feeds off of him. Ole Miss, you got to give them credit for their performance last week, but they’ve had a couple bumps in the road that were sort of unpredictable. And Texas, who seems on paper to be one of the best teams, has only played one top team and got beat by the Bulldogs. So none of those teams are perfect, but I do think they distinguish themselves as teams that could be very good.”

While the eight-team tie probably won’t happen, it’s a fascinating exercise because there is more parity in the SEC in 2024 compared to previous seasons.

“Well, I think what’s different this year, about a lot of years in the SEC, the best teams in the SEC all have holes,” Tebow said. “A lot of the best teams for you, for Kirby, back in the day, there were not as many holes. This is a really good year for the SEC. As far as having a lot of good teams, I don’t know if it’s as good for having the elite, the great teams.”