ESPN’s Rece Davis joined the Paul Finebaum Show on Wednesday and discussed the College Football Playoff picture.
While there are a few playoff contenders from the SEC, including Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama, the College GameDay host thinks it’s the Volunteers that have the best path to the playoff among SEC teams.
“I think there’s some things that are pretty clear-cut,” Davis said. “I mean, the SEC Champion obviously is going to go. But I think that I heard (ESPN’s Greg) McElroy talking earlier that a week ago, the possibility of four SEC teams being in the mix. I still believe that Tennessee has the clearest path. That doesn’t mean that I think they’re automatically in, but I think they have three very viable paths that would make them a strong contender.”
Davis explained the three scenarios in which the Vols, who beat No. 6 Alabama earlier this month, could end up making the playoff.
“A stone-cold lock if they win out and win the SEC, obviously,” he said. “If they were to get to the championship game and lose, they would still have a really compelling case because in all likelihood, they would’ve already beaten the team that just beat them. And even should they lose a close game to Georgia, I think they would have a really compelling argument.”
Although it’s certainly possible that more than one SEC team could find themselves in the playoff, Davis says that wouldn’t be the case if both Clemson and TCU win out.
If each remains unbeaten, they’re in, though Davis doesn’t envision the Horned Frogs finishing the season with an unblemished record.
“Now the caveat here is this – if TCU and Clemson both were to go undefeated, then you’ll have one from the Big Ten, one from the SEC, and those two teams would make it if that happens,” he said. “Even though I think TCU is really good, I think the Big 12 is probably too balanced and too full of peril for them to make it through unscathed.
“But we were talking three and even the wild possibility of four SEC teams last week, and now it’s not a crazy scenario to say that there could be two one-loss SEC teams sitting on the outside and left out. I don’t think that’s likely – let me emphasize that – I don’t think that’s likely, but there is a path and it’s certainly possible.”
The CFP Rankings come out next Tuesday and @ReceDavis thinks the Vols may have the best path to CFP in SEC. pic.twitter.com/vz0DgWpdcy
— Paul Finebaum (@finebaum) October 26, 2022
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