Beyond the 806
3 of top 4 seeds in the College Football Playoff would be from SEC on bracket based on AP Top 25 - apnews.com
The Associated Press Top 25 poll released Sunday puts Texas, Georgia, Notre Dame and Mississippi as the top four seeds in a projected College Football Playoff bracket, with three of those four spots belonging to the Southeastern Conference.
For folks in Lubbock who bleed Red Raider colors, the numbers still matter. Two Big 12 teams would make the field based on this poll, even though the seeding gets dominated by the SEC. Indiana, Miami, Ohio State and Alabama would host first-round games under this projection.
The system awards automatic bids to the five highest-ranked conference champions, one coming from the Group of Six leagues outside the Power Four. The remaining seven spots go to the next highest-ranked teams regardless of conference. Notre Dame gets an at-large path if the Fighting Irish sit inside the CFP's top 12 when the final rankings drop.
Two conference teams cracking the field means the Big 12 still has a real shot at multiple playoff runs, even if none of them land a top-four seed. The SEC's grip on the upper bracket says plenty about how the committee views strength of schedule this season.
Three SEC teams in the top four, and not one of them is Alabama.
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