12-team College Football Playoff turned out to be the SEC’s worst nightmare

Throughout the first round of the College Football Playoff, all fans heard was how teams in the SEC like Alabama and Ole Miss would've made things more entertaining. Those teams did lose three times in the regular season, but played in what was perceived to be the toughest conference in college football.

While Alabama and Ole Miss narrowly missed the final cut, three different SEC teams punched their ticket to the first-ever 12-team playoff. One of those three teams, the Georgia Bulldogs, earned a first-round bye thanks to their conference championship.

Unfortunately for SEC truthers, the CFP has not played out close to how they had envisioned. In fact, after Georgia's loss on Thursday, an argument can be made that the 12-team format turned out to be the SEC's worst nightmare.

College Football Playoff could not have played out much worse for SEC

Two of the three SEC teams that made the cut have been eliminated before the semifinals begin. The Tennessee Volunteers were humiliated in their first-round game, losing 42-17 to the Ohio State Buckeyes. They were thoroughly outclassed.

As if that loss wasn't embarrassing enough, Georgia laid an egg immediately after receiving their bye, falling 23-10 to No. 7-seeded Notre Dame. Georgia lost just twice in the regular season and won what many believed to be the most competitive conference in the sport, only to lose by two possessions coming off a bye to a team that isn't even in a conference in their first playoff game.

Now, with both Tennessee and Georgia eliminated, the Texas Longhorns are the only SEC team still alive in the CFP. While it's good that the conference will see one of its teams play in the semifinals, the team that made it happened to be in the Big 12 just one year ago. An argument can also be made that they didn't even deserve to win their game against Arizona State thanks to some poor officiating.

Much of the chatter before the CFP began, was about the SEC not getting as much respect as it deserved for being the most competitive conference in the sport. Now, just two rounds in, College Football fans have reason to wonder whether the committee might've let too many teams in. While the answer to that question is probably no, SEC fans can probably stop complaining about teams like Alabama and Ole Miss being left off of the bracket based on how the playoffs have gone for this conference as a whole.