The 12-team College Football Playoff format might have raised the stakes so high, like the Texas sky. But it’s also got everyone wondering how the SEC chaos will play out. The division filled with big boys like Texas Longhorns, Tennessee Volunteers, and Georgia Bulldogs going head-to-head. Rece Davis isn’t shy about grilling the CFP committee’s new head, Warde Manuel, on national TV. If a tiebreaker leads to a team getting knocked out of the conference title picture, will that ruin their playoff hopes?

On November 16, Rece Davis went on to The Paul Finebaum Show, and let loose with some hard-hitting questions on everyone’s mind, especially Georgia fans. “I’ve pledged to ask Warde Manuel every week: What are you going to do about a team that comes out of a tiebreaker and loses in the conference championship game? I want to know,” Davis wasn’t messing around. “He probably won’t be able to answer definitively, but it’s a subject that needs to be out there every week.” He’s not letting this slide because, let’s face it, it’s a difficult situation to be in; even for the Warde Manuel and College Football Committee (CFP), a decision this big could make or break playoff dreams, especially in this SEC’s current Fahrenheit.

Davis didn’t bother holding back when breaking down how this exact situation is bound to unfold. “Because it’s certainly going to happen in the SEC, almost certainly. Maybe not the third loss, but a team’s going to be in that situation,” Rece Davis explained. He highlighted the high stakes in this division, where a top team could get punished for a loss late in this season. Can’t wait to see how the Bulldogs vs Volunteers game unfolds.

“He has said that you know, they would try not to penalize. Okay, well, you know, you got there. And the idea of missing it. I sort of fall into the Mike Krzyzewski belief about this: If they’re giving out a trophy, we want it, you know? So I would like to see teams wanting to get there to try to win the trophy, and then, you know, then they get a bye. There’s a reward for it too.” Quoting Mike Krzyzewski was so much like him. His passion for fair competition is evident, but so is his skepticism about the CFP committee’s lack of accountability.

College playoff projection picture

Only 12 playoff spots mean everyone’s fighting tooth and nail to make the cut. CBS Sports’ current projection paints a wild picture. No.1 The Oregon Ducks, No.2 the Longhorns, No.3 Miami Hurricanes, and No.4 BYU are slated for first-round byes. Meanwhile, No.5 Ohio State would face No.12 Boise State, with the winner up against Miami Hurricanes. With Penn State Nittany Lions eyeing a showdown with Ole Miss, and BYU waiting in the wings to eat the leftovers, the road doesn’t get easier, mate.

Elsewhere, No.7 ranked Tennessee would face No.8 Notre Dame in a dogfight for a shot at Oregon. And in another heated matchup, the NO.10 seed battles No.7 undefeated Indiana Hoosiers led by Curt Cignetti, hoping to earn a quarterfinal date with Steve Sarkisian’s Longhorn. Sad to see the Bulldogs left out of the pre-party plan.

If this bracket holds, buckle up for some of the most intense matchups ever in CFB. The playoff committee better hope their scheme or metrics make sense before it turns out to be ugly. The fans are ready to dissect every move. With the December 8 ranking Looming, it’s do-or-ride for these SEC powerhouse teams, and suspense couldn’t be any higher, starting from tomorrow’s game.