SEC Championship Game: Can LSU lose to Georgia and still make College Football Playoff?

If the LSU Tigers were to suffer their first loss of 2019 in the SEC Championship Game to Georgia, could they still make the College Football Playoff?

There is no shortage of college football conference championship games that will have an effect on the College Football Playoff picture. However, no contest is more intriguing than the SEC Championship Game in Atlanta between the No. 2 LSU Tigers and No. 4 Georgia Bulldogs as it pertains to the CFP.

On one hand, if likely Heisman Trophy winner Joe Burrow leads the Tigers to their 13th victory of the season and keeps a zero in the loss column, LSU has punched their ticket into the final four. And if they do so in dominant fashion, they might be able to jump Ohio State for the No. 1 overall spot in the College Football Playoff. Moreover, Georgia would definitively be left out.

However, if Kirby Smart‘s Bulldogs are able to pull out the win at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Georgia will leave no doubt that they belong in the final four. But what happens with LSU should that scenario play out is much less certain.

If Ohio State takes care of Wisconsin in the Big Ten title game (the Buckeyes won 38-7 in their regular-season meeting), Clemson stays unbeaten in the ACC Championship Game against Virginia and Georgia picks up the SEC crown, those three teams are in the College Football Playoff beyond question.

LSU, however, would put themselves in a precarious position with a loss. Yes, it would be their first defeat of the season. Yet there will be plenty who make the argument that potential one-loss teams such as Oklahoma, Baylor or Utah that win their conference championship game deserve to make the final four over the Tigers.

On some level, it’s hard to argue that logic. We’ve seen the College Football Playoff committee ignore it before but it’s still difficult to see a conference champion with the same record as a non-SEC champion LSU team be left out while the Tigers would get in.

As true as that may be though, Ed Orgeron’s team has a resume unmatched by any team in college football this season, even if they should lose to Georgia. The three aforementioned challengers that could win the Big 12 or Pac-12 simply don’t have the number of quality wins that the Tigers have accrued throughout the year.

Many people talked about the gauntlet that Texas A&M had to run this season but Burrow and the Tigers have not been on a cakewalk by any means and have passed every test. Winning at Texas in Week 2, at home against Florida, at home against Auburn, on the road against Alabama (with Tua Tagovailoa healthy) and then routing rival A&M gives LSU a track record that dwarfs that of Oklahoma, Baylor and Utah.

It wouldn’t be without controversy but LSU should be a lock to make the College Football Playoff no matter what happens in the SEC Championship Game. Their quality wins and overall quality of play throughout the season should not be negated because of one loss against another great team. Heck, you could even make the argument that they’d still have a better case than Georgia, who lost to a middling South Carolina team in Athens.

Frankly, it’d be more of a disservice to college football fans to leave the one-loss LSU Tigers out of the CFP than it would be to put Oklahoma, Baylor or Utah out if they win their conference title game. If you want the best four teams in the country having a shot at making the National Championship Game, then the Tigers have to be a part of the mix, win or lose against Georgia.

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