If you count the SEC Championship as a de facto Playoff quarterfinal, then what the hell is Week 10 in the SEC? A Round of 16 game?
Week 10 in the SEC might basically be the opening round of the Playoff
Both SEC divisions could be effectively decided, with the winners on track to face each other in a veritable quarterfinal.
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Georgia and Kentucky each have only one SEC game remaining after they meet in Lexington. The winner is almost certainly the SEC East champ. Alabama and LSU have two apiece. In a way, this is an SEC title game semifinal, and if the SECCG is a quarterfinal to the national championship game, then what do we call these games?
What I’m trying to say here is that these games have some big-ass stakes, both in the conference and — because everyone has one loss or fewer — beyond.
On the East side, it’s Georgia vs. Kentucky for most of the marbles.
Just as we all predicted before the season started. No, that’s a lie.
Georgia’s flawed and definitely not as good as last season, but the Dawgs are in the thick of the Playoff chase. During their win over Florida, Jake Fromm looked much more like the quarterback who took them to the national title game last season than the guy who struggled at LSU. After the Kentucky game, UGA has a winnable game against Auburn, then UMass and Georgia Tech.
But immediately ahead is Kentucky. The Wildcats are scraping by, having just beaten Missouri despite needing an untimed down at the end of the fourth quarter to score their first offensive touchdown and win the game.
But damnit, I’m gonna will Kentucky into the national title hunt somehow, and as it stands heading into Week 10, the Cats are technically still alive.
After the appetizer at 3:30 on CBS, the primetime main course is yet another Alabama-LSU game with earth shattering implications.
This game has again clawed its way not just to relevance, but to probably deciding the SEC West and being almost as huge as any non-BCS Bama-LSU game yet. That’s pretty wild, given S&P+ projected LSU as a 7-5 team with a hellacious stretch of scheduling. The Tigers emerged regardless, and they’ve added big stakes to their biggest game of the season.
Bama could (and probably would) still make the Playoff through the backdoor if it didn’t win this game. But losing would likely cost them the SEC, and it’s a big deal whenever Bama loses, whether it matters in the end or not.
These teams have widely varying Playoff chances, but all four are equally alive for the moment.
Kentucky and LSU have outside shots. Georgia and most certainly Alabama have the inside tracks. But the fact that it’s on the table for this many teams is saying something.
But come Sunday, four will be either three or (more likely) two.
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