{"id":274988,"date":"2025-11-06T11:06:13","date_gmt":"2025-11-06T11:06:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/274988\/"},"modified":"2025-11-06T11:06:13","modified_gmt":"2025-11-06T11:06:13","slug":"paul-finebaum-heather-dinich-weigh-whether-the-sec-can-send-five-teams-to-cfp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/274988\/","title":{"rendered":"Paul Finebaum, Heather Dinich weigh whether the SEC can send five teams to CFP"},"content":{"rendered":"

Paul Finebaum<\/a> and Heather Dinich joined\u00a0Get Up\u00a0Wednesday morning, unpacking the fallout from Tuesday\u2019s release of the first College Football Playoff<\/a> rankings. One of the big questions regarding the release was whether the SEC\u2019s strength could lead to an unprecedented five teams in the Top 12. <\/p>\n

The initial rankings featured\u00a0Texas A&M (No. 3)<\/a>, Alabama (No. 4)<\/a>, Georgia (No. 5)<\/a>, Ole Miss (No. 6)<\/a>\u00a0in the dance. Texas (No. 11)<\/a> and Oklahoma (No. 12)<\/a> were right outside of the selections, but Finebaum said the league\u2019s upcoming matchups make a five-team scenario from the SEC more realistic than some might think.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think they have a legitimate shot at five,\u201d Finebaum said. \u201cHeather alluded to it, because think about Texas and Oklahoma. Now, Texas beat Oklahoma, but if Texas were to win at Georgia next week, and then they have Texas A&M later, they could beat two top-five teams. <\/p>\n

\u201cNow, Oklahoma has another opportunity. They have Missouri<\/a> later in the year, but they also have a game at Alabama next week. They could grab a major win. I think one of those two have a legitimate shot at getting in, especially since they play each other the final week of the season.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alas, the SEC\u2019s expansion has transformed its playoff dynamic, as Finebaum emphasized how much overlap exists between the conference\u2019s contenders. Wins over top-five opponents will hold extra weight down the stretch, giving both Texas and Oklahoma legitimate paths to the twelve-team field.<\/p>\n

Responding, Dinich agreed that chaos could shake up the current order but reminded viewers not to overlook the rest of the national picture: \u201cI think you can also include USC<\/a> and Michigan<\/a> in the conversation, and other teams that have chances to win their leagues,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf USC goes on the road and beats Oregon<\/a>? They have a win against Michigan. This is a team that lost to Notre Dame and Illinois by 12 points. So, a lot can and probably will change.\u201d<\/p>\n

All told, the first CFP rankings of the season saw\u00a0the Big Ten reign supreme, with Ohio State<\/a> debuting at No. 1, followed by\u00a0Indiana<\/a> at No. 2 and the aforementioned Aggies and Crimson Tide afterwards. However, Finebaum and Dinich both noted, November is rarely about where teams start, it\u2019s about who can finish. <\/p>\n

With so many SEC powers set to clash in the weeks ahead, the playoff may end up running straight through the South. We\u2019ll see if it comes to fruition. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Paul Finebaum and Heather Dinich joined\u00a0Get Up\u00a0Wednesday morning, unpacking the fallout from Tuesday\u2019s release of the first College…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":274989,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[399,398,396,397,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-274988","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-ncaa","10":"tag-ncaa-football","11":"tag-ncaafootball","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274988","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=274988"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274988\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/274989"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=274988"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=274988"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=274988"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}