You can put it together, it's a puzzle" - CFB insider breaks down why 10-2 SEC teams should make the playoff over two-loss SMU

We are more than two months removed from the final CFP ranking and the subject is still a controversial one with many holding an “SEC vs the World” perspective. This was touched on during Thursday’s edition of On3’s “Andy and Ari Show.” A user asked how insider Ari Wasserman was sure a two-loss Alabama or Ole Miss would make the College Football Playoff over a two-loss SMU.

His co-host, Andy Staples, explained the situation:

“So, this is Week 12, this is the committee’s rankings. So Alabama has already lost twice. Alabama’s lost to Georgia and Vandy at this point. Ole Miss has lost to Kentucky and LSU at this point. They are sandwiched around a one-loss Miami. So Alabama with two losses is already ahead of a one-loss Miami. They are both ahead of one-loss SMU, and far ahead.

"Ole Miss was four spots ahead of an SMU team that had one fewer loss. So, how are you sure Phil? He’s sure because the committee told him,” Andy Staples said (36:05).

Wasserman then went into detail on the subject, offering an explanation as to how the ranking works:

"We have been covering this so maybe we think about it all day and that's why we are more seasoned with it, but we basically have an idea of what they're gonna do and that to me is because they value quality of wins, and they hurt you with terrible losses. And you can put it together, it's a puzzle.

"I want to give an olive branch to SEC fans, I think the SEC does play a harder schedule than the teams in the ACC play. And as a result of that harder schedule and the unbalanced schedules in the sport, you are rewarded with more breathing room in the form of an extra loss in order to get an in if you possess quality wins."

As Staples explained, two-loss Alabama and two-loss Ole Miss were already ahead of SMU. In the Crimson Tide’s case, they were even ahead of the Miami Hurricanes, who at that time led the ACC.

If Bama or Ole Miss took care of business against Oklahoma or Florida, there’s little question one of those teams would have made the CFP instead of the Mustangs. Both teams would have had just as many losses with better conference wins. Wasserman added that the CFP Committee was put in uncharted territory by the SEC’s three-loss teams.

“I think it’s possible that the Committee would have ranked the entire thing differently if Ole Miss and Alabama were two-loss teams. I think we could have had a scenario where… the conference championship losers were not rewarded in the way that they were last year.

"I think that because there was nobody else to go to, that allowed them the ability to reward all the teams who lost their conference championship games,” Ari Wasserman added.

While SMU was the best-known case, Texas and Penn State also benefited, getting the highest seeds for non-conference champions.

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Texas AD wants SEC to add ninth conference game

Another current SEC controversy is the conference schedule. The SEC currently has eight conference games, while some other conferences, including the Big Ten, hold nine conference games.

Texas athletic director Chris Conte would rather have nine games as well, and this week, he made it known at the 2025 Texas Athletics Town Hall:

“I prefer nine games,” Conte said. “Why? Because we play Oklahoma at a neutral site. So one year, we get four games. One year, we get three. If we had a nine-game schedule, four and four, we’d play our rival at a neutral site.”

Convincing other schools and SEC commissioner Greg Sankey might not be so easy, at least not under the current CFP structure. Adding one more conference means conference teams would risk one more game.

With the SEC sending only three teams to the CFP in 2025, the only way such a move would seem to get momentum is if the conference could get an automatic number of qualifiers.