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Paul Finebaum debates whether three-loss SEC teams could make College Football Playoff

Barkley-Truaxby: Barkley Truax11/24/24BarkleyTruax
Paul Finebaum on Colorado Deion Sanders
Maria Lysaker | Imagn Images

The SEC was turned on its head during Week 13 as three of its six potential College Football Playoff contenders were defeated in upset fashion throughout Saturday.

Alabama was shut down against Oklahoma in a 24-3 loss, Ole Miss was shocked down in the Swamp with a one-score loss to Florida and Texas A&M lost to Auburn in four overtimes. All three teams earned their third loss of the season thanks to those matchups — which makes a potential playoff berth that much harder.

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SEC analyst Paul Finebaum isn’t ruling the Crimson Tide and Rebels out of the Playoff, though. After all, they were revealed to be Heather Dinich’s first and second team out during her Sunday morning bracket. However, Finebaum wouldn’t be surprised if both teams are left out of the field entirely.

“I’m probably out. I think Ole Miss and Alabama are — I don’t know how you can make a case for either one of them, but the caveat there [for Alabama] is Georgia,” Finebaum said during his weekly ‘Paul In, Paul Out’ segment on SportsCenter on Sunday morning. “Let’s say Georgia gets to the SEC championship game and loses, perhaps, to Texas, a team it beat. Then we have a conversation, but that’s Alabama. I mean, what were we watching yesterday? Does anyone know?

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“Even though Alabama beat Georgia, which makes it seem even more interesting, Georgia looks like a much better team right now. It is chaotic to think about but right now, Georgia still has a chance.”

Notably, Finebaum did not discuss the Aggies’ chances since they were already on the outside looking in at No. 15. They just so happened to be tied for first place in the SEC standings heading into Week 13 and were weeded out by Auburn inside Jordan-Hare Stadium on Saturday night.

The Aggies still have a chance to shake up the conference standings one last time before the postseason, however. They host No. 3 Texas during Week 14 and if the Aggies can emerge victorious — and barring any more upsets within the conference — the SEC could have four two-loss teams ahead of conference championship week.

In that scenario, the loser of the SEC Championship game would have three losses. Again, this makes it even more difficult to gauge where the committee should slot the remaining SEC teams.