[Matt Hayes] The SEC willingly flushed its conference championship game that last year had better ratings than all eight first round CFP games of the brief, 12-team era.

[u/CrashB111]

https://x.com/MattHayesCFB/status/2111056779366785054

[u/Saint-Andrew]

In the final 2025 CFP rankings, there was only a single 8-4 team on the list: #23 Iowa.

In 2024, there were no 4 loss teams.

In 2023, there were 5 4 loss teams: #19 Oregon State, #20 Oklahoma State, #21 Tennessee, #22 Clemson, and #25 Kansas State.

I don’t want to do them all, but it think it’s probably safe to say a 5 loss team is probably not getting talked about.

[u/AppropriateCompany9 → u/Saint-Andrew]

This assumes effort will be constant. It won’t be. 8-4 teams from the SEC and B1G are coming to the CFP.

[u/Saint-Andrew → u/AppropriateCompany9]

I agree, but I didn’t see an example of a 7-5 team showing up.

[u/potterpockets → u/Saint-Andrew]

I would argue that a team like OSU with their schedule this year likely at least gets talked about. Which is crazy because if OSU went 7-5 our fanbase would be in full "Fire Day" meltdown mode worse than after the 2024 Michigan game

[u/woopwup → u/Saint-Andrew]

Until 15-25 is filled with SEC/B1G teams to be resume builders. Ex. “Well Tennessee might have 4 loses but they beat #22 Mizzou and #24 Mississippi St”

[u/muktheduck → u/Saint-Andrew]

That was before they mandated 10 P4 games on the schedule. There will eventually be a 5 loss getting some consideration

[u/shouldajustsaid_yeah → u/muktheduck]

Only 11 P4 teams don't already meet that rule. It's not going to be that big a change

[u/crazy_akes → u/Saint-Andrew]

You’re wrong, respectfully. They weren’t talked about because a 5 loss SEC team couldn’t get into a 12 team playoff. We saw over and over that SEC teams off the radar got moved up at selection or weeks prior to slide in over the non sec teams.

Here we go. Alabama loses 4 out of 6 games due to a tragic QB injury among others. Maybe a speeding Georgia player flipped a car onto the Bama practice field in spring. The team, due to endless payroll, recovered and wins like 4 straight in dominating fashion. At 6-4 they play Georgia the final game of the year. Georgia is ranked 1st and Bama loses by a field goal. You think bama isn’t making the top 24 at 6-5? 

This type of stuff  happens every year. There’s always an SEC team who gets slid around and propped up with excuses made and it’ll happen either with 4 or 5 loss teams.

[u/OrangeJuliusCaesr → u/Saint-Andrew]

Everyone has to play 10 p4 games now, math is math

[u/gongman18 → u/OrangeJuliusCaesr]

Not the big ten