If the College Football Playoff began today, Alabama would be in the field of 12 along with Texas, Georgia and Tennessee.
That’s good news for one of the SEC’s three 6-6 teams — Arkansas, Oklahoma and Vanderbilt.
The more SEC teams in the playoff field, the better the bowl opportunities for the league’s lower-end teams. And it eliminates the headache of placing an SEC team in a bowl not affiliated with the conference, which would be needed if only three teams from the league make the playoff.
There are are 13 bowl-eligible teams, counting the playoff hopefuls.