College Football Playoff changes blatantly favor SEC

In theory the new changes to how teams are selected for the College Football Playoff sound good. As is often the case, however, the way in which the new guidelines are actually implemented will end up making all the world of difference.

Having recently met, the committee has solidified in writing the ideal of what many college football fans have been asking for. According to a statement released by the committee, more weight will benefit and be placed on the quality of the opponent. The reward is also to be less for wins against a so-called lesser team, while a loss against such competition would result in a far greater penalty.

The issue that becomes instantly clear is how one would go about determining what is or is not a good team.

Each conference is going to tout the credentials of those programs that they constantly play against. College football has in many ways become about the politics of the game rather than what actually occurs on the field itself.

The metrics that tend to be used to measure strength of schedule, such as polls and the media, though, are consistently siding with and giving a largely unearned benefit of the doubt to teams in the SEC.

Yearly College Football Playoff conversation will continue

According to such voices, the SEC is simply better by virtue of being in the SEC. Those opinions, though, are actively choosing to overlook how the head-to-head matchups have been against other conferences. Instead, now we will have the same song and dance that is always held throughout the year in which the SEC insists that their life is just too difficult to even consider an additional conference game.

It is a step in the right direction to have programs be incentivized to schedule tougher non-conference games. In reality, the SEC is being enabled through the latest standards that are being established for the College Football Playoff.