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Greg Sankey applauds SEC haters for 'worrying about the wrong things'

ns_headshot_2024-clearby: Nick Schultz12/07/24NickSchultz_7
Greg Sankey
Christopher Hanewinckel | USA TODAY Sports

As Championship Week rolls along, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey continues to make his case for his league. The final College Football Playoff rankings come out Sunday, and he remains vocal about how many teams from the conference should be in the field.

There’s also a dialogue about whether Sankey pulls the strings. He’s seen that conversation, and he had a poignant response to those haters.

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Sankey said if people think he’s the one calling the shots, they’re not concerned about the right things. That was his message ahead of the SEC Championship between Georgia and Texas, which will seal at least one bid to the CFP.

“People think I’m the puppeteer,” Sankey said on Texas radio. “Good, because that means they’re worrying about the wrong things.”

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Based on the penultimate rankings released earlier this week, the SEC would be in line to get three bids to the College Football Playoff. Texas came in as the highest-ranked team in the league – and, therefore, the projected conference champion in the 12-team bracket. Georgia ranked No. 8 and Alabama snuck into the bracket as the No. 11-ranked team.

However, other SEC teams could present cases for the committee. Both Ole Miss and South Carolina have been making the rounds, arguing why they should be in the field, as well.

During his interviews, Greg Sankey points to strength of schedule as the differentiator in the CFP picture. SEC teams have some of the toughest schedules in the country, and that’s why he thinks the league has earned the bids.

“There has to be recognition. Like I could pull out my email and show you our 16 teams’ strength of schedule. And this is not my rating, this Massey, FPI and Sagarin combined,” Sankey said. “So you combine all of those, 14 of our teams’ strength of schedule is greater than the first of the other Top 25 CFP teams. In other words: 14 of our 16 have stronger schedules than the next CFP team. And then the next two follow and then everybody else in the CFP Top 25 rankings has a lesser schedule than our 16 teams when you use that metric.”