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SEC commissioner Greg Sankey makes case for Alabama, Tennessee, and LSU in CFP

20200517_134556by:Justin Rudolph12/02/22
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SEC commissioner Greg Sankey is a true fan of his conference and is not afraid to put his team’s resumes up against anyone else in the country, especially when it comes to college football. Currently, the SEC has one team in the top four of the College Football Playoff rankings, Georgia. But the commissioner believes that three other teams in the conference deserve consideration for the CFP as well, should any of the top four not named Georgia fall in their conference’s championship game.

During a recent conversation with SI Now, Sankey expressed his belief that Alabama, Tennessee, and LSU, if they are able to beat Georgia in the SEC championship game, are all worthy of consideration for this season’s College Football Playoffs. His reason, the SEC is a much tougher league with a much more challenging schedule.

“We really have a tough league schedule that merits consideration,” said Sankey.

For the SEC commissioner, his conference has more top-quality teams than any other conference. And Sankey has the rankings and numbers to back his case. Sankey highlights that the SEC has six teams in the College Football Playoff top 25. While the conference many view as being on the same level as the SEC, the Big Ten only has three.

There is one other conference that has the same number of teams in the College Football Playoff top 25, the Pac-12. However, the Pac-12 is not considered close to being on the level of the SEC when it comes to football. Case in point, when their second highest-ranked team in the CFP top 25, Utah, took a trip down to Gainesville. The Utes fell to the Gators 29-26. A Florida squad that is middle of the pack in the SEC and finished their season 6-6.

There are some that want to see Ohio State jump back into the top four if either TCU or USC lose their conference championship games. Don’t count Sankey as one of them. Expect him to loudly protest that either Alabama or Tennessee climb into that spot. And if the unthinkable happens and Georgia loses to LSU, and either two of the other mentioned squads lose, the SEC commissioner will want to see the SEC champions and the college football playoffs.