2026 CFP bracket projection: Chaos reigns as SEC logjam muddies race for final spots

Three weeks ago, this College Football Playoff prognosticator surveyed the upcoming schedule and saw two paths forming.

"Clarity is coming," I wrote, "Or maybe it's more confusion."

Door Number Two is where we stand days before the calendar turns to November. The last two weeks have brought big upsets and little clarity around which teams are legitimately good.

The SEC, in particular, has turned into a confusing mess for the selection committee to sort through ahead of the group's first rankings next week. Just look at the Associated Press top 25 this week — the SEC has No. 3 Georgia and then four teams ranked from No. 9 to No. 12 and the three teams ranked from No. 15 to No. 17. The conference has already turned into a demolition derby as top players have gone down with injuries and upsets lurk just around the corner at any given moment.

The SEC is still well-positioned to get four teams into the playoff, but brace yourself for lots of debates around the merits of three-loss SEC teams versus two-loss teams in other conferences. If the new strength-of-conference metric is given serious consideration, it should benefit the SEC. Likely range of SEC…

Original source: https://www.cbssports.com/