Breaking down SEC’s path to five or more College Football Playoff bids, multiple 9-3 selections

How many three-loss teams can the SEC push into the College Football Playoff this season?

That question may decide whether the league touts a record-setting five or more bids on Selection Sunday next month or argues over the teams the selection committee left at home.

Sorting through the CFP carnage coming out of Week 10 is headache-inducing, all thanks to a selection committee that left us with several questions exiting their first rankings — why Alabama was ranked eight spots higher than Tennessee despite the Vols winning that matchup, for starters.

The SEC's best shot at five or more bids begins with its frontrunners taking care of business; then comes the fun part. Which 9-3 team has the best wins, whose worst loss is hardest to explain and how many of those résumés can hold up against teams with better records from other Power Four conferences?

Chaos elsewhere would certainly help, too. There's a path to multiple three-loss selections, but who beats whom over the next three weekends will decide everything. For clarity, we've officially projected five SEC teams to appear in the final bracket in this week's playoff and bowls update, including a first-round game between two league teams…

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