SEC's Hope for 2 Teams in College Football Playoff as Good as Dead

Two SEC teams in the College Football Playoff?

That may seem like more of a possibility now that No. 5 Alabama (9-1, 6-1 SEC) topped No. 1 Mississippi State (9-1, 5-1 SEC) 25-20 and earned the inside track to the SEC West title.

Mississippi State still has a chance to stay in the committee's top four, right?

Wrong.

Unless some major college football chaos ensues over the next few weeks, the SEC's hopes of getting two teams into the inaugural College Football Playoff is more myth than reality. 

Sure, Alabama could win out, win the SEC title and Mississippi State could finish the season with one loss. Would that be enough to look attractive to the committee?

Attractive, yes. But it'd still likely place the Bulldogs as the last of several dominoes looking to get in. Unless they start falling, it's unlikely they'll find their way in.

Why?

The Bulldogs' own play is a good place to start.

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Mississippi State settled for field goals in the red zone twice—once before halftime and another at the start of the third quarter. Two of quarterback Dak Prescott's three interceptions came at the 20-yard line or closer, and Prescott looked wildly uncomfortable in the face of Alabama's pass rush.

The Bulldogs didn't look anything like a championship-caliber team against the Crimson Tide.

"I think we had the ball six times in the red zone, so that’s potentially 42 points," head coach Dan Mullen said in quotes released by Mississippi State. "If we just score touchdowns in the red zone, it wouldn’t have been a close game. We would’ve won big, but give them a lot of credit. They made all those plays they needed to do."

Mississippi State looked blinded by the big stage from the jump and unless it gets some help from Auburn in two weeks when the Tigers visit Alabama, the Bulldogs will be sitting at home on championship weekend as the Crimson Tide battle for the SEC title.

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Sure, the 25-20 score looks close. A late touchdown with 15 seconds left will do that. Mississippi State outgained Alabama 428-335, which will undoubtedly be used in an attempt to boost the Bulldogs' case.

Don't be fooled. This was the Crimson Tide's game from the get-go, and committee chairman Jeff Long specifically stated that the "eye test" mattered during last week's rankings show.

Mississippi State didn't get any style points Saturday, and with only Vanderbilt and Ole Miss remaining on the schedule, time's running out. On top of that, other teams jockeying for position in the four-team postseason made statements Saturday—Ohio State, in particular.

Led by quarterback J.T. Barrett, the Buckeyes took down No. 25 Minnesota 31-24 in snowy Minneapolis on Saturday. Will the Buckeyes be ahead of the Bulldogs in the College Football Playoff rankings Tuesday? Possibly, and if they run the table and win the Big Ten, you can bet your bottom, top and middle dollars they'll get the benefit of the doubt over the Bulldogs.

Is that fair? Of course it isn't.

Ohio State's only loss came at home by two touchdowns to lowly Virginia Tech. The Buckeyes will have that conference championship to boast, though, and that is one of the selection committee's stated points of emphasis—one that is impossible to predict in the midseason rankings.

Stated or not, the playoff is designed to be a spectacle, and Ohio State carries a little more name recognition than Mississippi State. That shouldn't have anything to do with which team makes the playoff but let's be real...it will. 

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Would a one-loss Oregon team with a Pac-12 title be in over Mississippi State without a division title?

Absolutely.

The same can be said for Baylor and/or TCU in the Big 12. Florida State got its last real test of the season Saturday and came back to beat Miami 30-26 at Sun Life Stadium.

Unfortunately, conference championships matter. They shouldn't, because the goal for the playoff should be to reward excellence over granting access, and a team winning its geographically determined conference doesn't necessarily prove excellence. But unless there are no other options out there for the committee, two teams from the same conference getting in is very unlikely based on the committee's ground rules.

Plus, the Bulldogs' own resume took a hit as well, as Stewart Mandel of FoxSports.com noted:

The mighty SEC name carries some weight, but we've seen the committee judge resumes by where they currently stand. Why else was Alabama ranked No. 5 last week? It didn't have a signature win until Saturday.

That changed, and it came at the Bulldogs' expense.

The chances of two teams making the playoff were always slim to none, regardless of how teams were ranked in any of the polls. Unless there's no other option, the SEC won't get two in—even if the potential second team is one-loss Mississippi State.

Barrett Sallee is the lead SEC college football writer and video analyst for Bleacher Report as well as a co-host of the CFB Hangover on Bleacher Report Radio (Sundays, 9-11 a.m. ET) on Sirius 93, XM 208.

Quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. All stats are courtesy of CFBStats.com, and all recruiting information is courtesy of 247Sports. Follow Barrett on Twitter @BarrettSallee.