As the AP poll stands today (meaningless pre-season ranking) the SEC has 4 ranked in the top 12 with another 3 more just outside up to OU at #16. TAMU gives the SEC 8 teams in the top 20.
The final rankings from last year would have had any SEC team with 2 or fewer losses as being a playoff team - I think that will hold up even further this year as the strength of schedules are even stronger this year (I could see a 9-3 team getting in over a 10-2 Big 12 or ACC team assuming neither are conference champions).
So, the question comes down to, how many teams can finish with 2 or fewer losses?
The SEC has 10 teams with O/U win totals of 7.5 or more which puts all of them well within the range of reaching 10 wins (2.5 wins more than predicted). Of course not all 10 can finish 10-2 or better as there will be some cannibalization. That said, I could easily see 5-6 teams finish 10-2 or better.
Could the SEC get 5 or 6 teams into the playoffs? If you look at the Playoff rankings from Week 15 of 2023 and the current conference alignment, the SEC would have had 6 teams in. It seems like a lot, but that still leaves 6 spots for Big XII, ACC, B1G and ND. Looking at preseason rankings the ACC could get 1, Big XII get 1, ND gets 1, and B1G gets 3.
The final rankings from last year would have had any SEC team with 2 or fewer losses as being a playoff team - I think that will hold up even further this year as the strength of schedules are even stronger this year (I could see a 9-3 team getting in over a 10-2 Big 12 or ACC team assuming neither are conference champions).
So, the question comes down to, how many teams can finish with 2 or fewer losses?
The SEC has 10 teams with O/U win totals of 7.5 or more which puts all of them well within the range of reaching 10 wins (2.5 wins more than predicted). Of course not all 10 can finish 10-2 or better as there will be some cannibalization. That said, I could easily see 5-6 teams finish 10-2 or better.
Could the SEC get 5 or 6 teams into the playoffs? If you look at the Playoff rankings from Week 15 of 2023 and the current conference alignment, the SEC would have had 6 teams in. It seems like a lot, but that still leaves 6 spots for Big XII, ACC, B1G and ND. Looking at preseason rankings the ACC could get 1, Big XII get 1, ND gets 1, and B1G gets 3.
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