Greg Sankey: SEC playoff opportunities aplenty, league depth on display
ATHENS — SEC commissioner Greg Sankey isn’t ready to bang the table about the number of teams his league “deserves” to get into the College Football Playoff field.
“There’s two and a half more Saturdays of football, so I don’t think you can use the word ‘deserve’ right now,” said Sankey, who saw five SEC teams projected in the most recent bracket that came out after the Week Two rankings on Tuesday night.
“I think we earn. We want to earn our opportunities (and) I think we’ve established ourself in both nonconference play and what happens week to week on the football field in a league with great strength.”
The SEC’s depth was on display in College Station, where an undefeated No. 3-ranked Texas A&M team rallied from a 30-3 halftime deficit to defeat a South Carolina team that’s now 3-7 overall and 1-7 in league play.
“I would expect (Texas A&M-South Carolina outcome) sends several signals …” Sankey said. “You look at the talent that exists across the rosters of our league, and the closeness of games, the competitiveness … you saw a team that is highly ranked that rallied, (and) that’s about the resilience and performance.”
Perhaps, but to this point the CFP selection committee has not appeared to reward the SEC teams for the stronger strength of schedule metrics they are producing than schools from other conferences with similar records.
Sankey would not elaborate on his thoughts on that when asked by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution about the displeasure some SEC coaches have voiced with the rankings.
“We evaluate that every week,” Sankey said. “We’re going to a nine-game schedule next season.”
Indeed, the decision was made in August, and Sankey said he remains optimistic the nine-game schedule will work in the SEC’s favor when it comes to providing opportunities for the teams to make the College Football Playoff field.
“I don’t look at these things out of fear, or like the half-empty,” Sankey said. “I think there are opportunities.
“You started in November, if you look at schedules, all our two-loss teams at that time had opportunities to win big games and play their way firmly into the conversation.”
To Sankey’s point, at kickoff time of the Texas at Georgia game, seven of the SEC’s 16 teams remained in contention to make the 12-team CFP field.
About the Author
Mike is in his eighth season covering SEC and Georgia athletics for AJC-DawgNation and has 30 years of collegiate sports multimedia experience, 25 of them in the SEC including beat writer stops at Auburn, Alabama, Tennessee and now Georgia. Mike was named the National FWAA Beat Writer of the Year in January, 2018.
