SEC Favoritism Claims Emerge After Controversial College Football Playoff Rankings

The College Football Playoff selection committee’s first rankings of 2026 gave the SEC the benefit of the doubt on nearly every résumé, and two-loss Alabama, Texas and Ole Miss sit ahead of one-loss Notre Dame, Texas Tech and Wake Forest.

That order sparked SEC favoritism claims Tuesday night. Ten SEC teams made the CFP Top 25, eight of them ranked higher than in the AP poll, and 247Sports national college football writer Chris Hummer posted “a 3-loss SEC playoff team is very much in play.”

Why did SEC teams climb so high?

One clear takeaway from the CFB Playoff rankings: The committee LOVES the SEC's SOS.

Alabama, Ole Miss & Texas with 2 losses all ranked ahead of 1-loss teams like Notre Dame, Texas Tech and Wake Forest.

This is a year where a 3-loss SEC playoff team is very much in play.
— Chris Hummer (@chris_hummer) November 4, 2026

SEC commissioner Greg Sankey spent years lobbying for metrics that credit schedule strength and the order teams face opponents, and the selection committee’s first board rewarded that push. All six two-loss SEC teams sit higher than their spots in both the AP and coaches polls. Alabama at No. 5 and Texas at No. 7 also landed ahead of 8-0 UCLA, which owns a road win at Oregon.

Texas has the strongest case of the group. The Longhorns own a nonconference win over Ohio State plus SEC wins over Ole Miss and Tennessee, so their spot above the rest of the two-loss pack holds up.

Notre Dame absorbed the biggest drop. The Irish landed at No. 11, seven spots below their AP ranking, and CFP selection committee chair and Arkansas athletic director Hunter Yurachek pointed to a thin schedule.

“When you look at Notre Dame’s schedule, they don’t have that signature win right now,” Yurachek said.

Alabama ranked ahead of Tennessee

Alabama Crimson Tide quarterback Keelon Russell (12) waits for the snap against the Texas A&M Aggies | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

No placement drew more fire than Alabama sitting eight spots above Tennessee. The Volunteers won the Week 7 meeting in Knoxville, Alabama 10 vs. Tennessee 26, and outgained the Crimson Tide 347-201.

Yurachek said the committee never weighed that result because the teams weren’t grouped together.

“When you’re trying to compare teams head to head, they have to be in the same pod to be compared head to head,” Yurachek said.

He instead credited Alabama’s road wins at Kentucky and Mississippi State along with a win over South Carolina. “I think many forget they went on the road and beat Mississippi State when Mississippi State was undefeated and at full strength,” Yurachek said. Mississippi State has since fallen to 4-4.

Tennessee’s two losses came by three points each, to Texas and South Carolina. Still, Alabama’s 2-2 mark against the CFP Top 25 beats the Vols’ 1-2 record, and that difference carried more weight than the head-to-head result.

Is a three-loss SEC team next?

Florida Gators head coach Jon Sumrall looks on during the fourth quarter against the Georgia Bulldogs | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Hummer’s projection has a path because the SEC owns the highest-ranked three-loss team in No. 21 South Carolina, and 5-3 Florida joined the Gamecocks at No. 24. Those rankings matter beyond the two programs, since South Carolina’s spot lifts wins for Alabama and Kentucky while Florida’s does the same for Georgia and Missouri.

Only two three-loss teams have reached the 12-team Playoff: Alabama as the SEC runner-up and Clemson as an automatic ACC champion qualifier. The current board puts five SEC teams in the projected field against two from the Big Ten, which gives Alabama, Texas and Ole Miss room for a loss that Notre Dame doesn’t have.

Saturday brings Alabama at LSU, Texas at Missouri and Miami at Notre Dame, three results that will test the committee’s SEC lean before its second rankings release.

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