SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey Defends Conference 'Strength of Schedule'

Amid many members of the media and fans starting to point out "SEC bias" in the College Football Playoff Rankings, Greg Sankey tweets out his defense for his conference.

Oct 16, 2024; Birmingham, AL, USA; SEC commissioner Greg Sankey talks with the media during SEC Media Days at Grand Bohemian Hotel. Mandatory Credit: Vasha Hunt-Imagn Images / Vasha Hunt-Imagn Images

On Tuesday, the third edition of College Football Playoff Rankings was released and the SEC leads all conferences with six teams in the top 15.

The Texas Longhorns lead the conference at the third spot followed by Alabama at seven, Ole Miss at nine, Georgia at ten, Tennessee at 11 and lastly Texas A&M at 15.

But are six teams ranked in the top 15 from the SEC too much when only one team (Texas) has only one loss on the season when everyone else has at least two? Some media members and fans have thought that way.

The "SEC bias" by the playoff committee has been a big complaint for a while now with the belief that teams like Alabama and Georgia get ranked higher because of their reputation and because of the conference reputation as the toughest to play in.

But SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey has fought back on the rumor with a tweet riding the statistics of "strength of schedule" to show that SEC schools are rightfully ranked.

"Interesting to read analysis from others as they examine 'strength of schedule' in college football...it does seem there is a trend to be identified..." Sankey wrote in this tweet with a stat of every teams SOS in the top 15.

Interesting to read analysis from others as they examine “strength of schedule” in college football…it does seem there is a trend to be identified… pic.twitter.com/pXSfxRMxvL

— Greg Sankey (@GregSankey) November 21, 2024

The graphic shows that by averaging out three of the top strength of schedule rankings, the six SEC schools beat out everyone else in the top 15 for the competition that they have ranked.

This helps the argument for teams like Alabama and Tennessee mostly who have two losses already on the season but still get ranked in the top 15 despite teams like SMU and Boise State only having one loss and still being ranked behind them.

But fans are still not buying it.

"Now show how many losses they have." wrote an Indiana fan in the comments.

There still is a lot of football to be played, however, and surely these last two weeks will settle the debate on whether the "SEC bias" is real or not. (It certainly wont)

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