Greg Sankey: Bama, Tennessee and LSU All Deserve CFP Consideration

The SEC commissioner stumps for his big programs, as his Big Ten counterparts do the same heading into championship weekend.

SEC commissioner Greg Sankey believes Alabama and Tennessee, as well as LSU if it was to win Saturday’s SEC championship game, all merit serious consideration to advance to the College Football Playoff.

The Tigers, 9–3 and ranked No. 14 in the CFP, meets Georgia in the title game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. No. 6 Alabama (10–2) and No. 7 Tennessee (10–2) are on the outside of the current top four, trailing behind No. 1 Georgia, No. 2 Michigan, No. 3 TCU, No. 4 USC and No. 5 Ohio State.

“I look at the rigor of our league, and we have teams ranked No. 6 and No. 7 that merit consideration and I’m confident will be given consideration,” Sankey says. “I respect Ohio State, too, and the tough game against Michigan. Our teams had two close losses both on the road, Alabama and Tennessee. I think those two teams are viable.

“If we’re going to talk about considerations for the Playoff, I’ve got a team that would have the best win of the year tomorrow if it wins. It would have to be in consideration. We’ve trusted the selection committee. We will continue to do that.”

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Conference championship week is a time in which athletic directors and commissioners begin stumping for their own league teams in the lead-up to CFP Selection Sunday. As expected, Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren this week has publicly thrown his support behind the Buckeyes (11–1) despite their regular-season-ending loss to the Wolverines.

“They hopefully get some help this weekend,” Warren says. “They’ve played 46 and a half exceptional quarters of football out of 48 this season. They are clearly one of the four best teams in the country. And you can make a strong argument that Michigan might be the best team in the country.”

College football enters a somewhat anticlimactic championship weekend. Many experts believe Michigan, Georgia and TCU—and their stacked résumés—are likely to advance to the Playoff even with a loss. The last remaining spot is for now occupied by the Trojans, which play Utah on Friday night in the Pac-12 title game. Ohio State (11–1), Alabama (10–2) and Tennessee (10–2) are the next three teams in the rankings. For a week now, there has been heated debate on which, if any of the three, replace USC if it was to lose.

In a résumé comparison, the Volunteers lead with three wins over CFP-ranked top 25 programs. Alabama and Ohio State have two each. The Vols are also the only team with wins over two top-15 programs (LSU and Alabama). In the strength-of-schedule metric, the Tide lead with the 28th-toughest slate, followed by Tennessee (37th) and Ohio State (44th).

Sankey points out the SEC has six teams in the CFP top 25. The Big Ten has three.

“We’ll trust the selection committee to make evaluations and know that they understand that the number of ranked teams you have to play, based on their rankings, in the SEC is six versus three in the Big Ten,” Sankey says. “There are a number of others that have been ranked. I think 10 of our 14 have been ranked, eight of those in the top 10. We have a tough league schedule that merits consideration.”

No two-loss team has ever advanced to the CFP in its eight-year existence. LSU has three losses. The Tigers would be 10–3 if they were to upset 17-point favorite Georgia.

“We are living in unprecedented times, are we not?” Sankey says. “Any conference champion merits consideration, but right on top of that list is the champion from the SEC. Now, whether it’s possible or not looking at the full picture, that’s where the selection committee comes in. Three losses is going to be tough, but having the best win of the year, after the full body of work, certainly introduces them into a conversation.”

Reporting from Pat Forde was used in this story.