Any path will lead through Alabama

2 SEC teams in the CFP will depend on the Tide

Round One goes to Alabama.

The question now is will this be the first of two meetings between the second-ranked Crimson Tide and No. 3 Georgia? Or maybe the first of three?

The Southeastern Conference is the only league to put multiple teams in the College Football Playoff and is always a threat to do so again.

There will not be another regularseason game this season between two better teams than the Crimson Tide and Bulldogs on Saturday night. On pure talent, you could put both in the CFP right now. But results have to count for something, or why even play the games?

The result was Alabama and its COVID-19-free coach running away from the Bulldogs in the second half. Nick Saban is now 22-0 against his former assistant coaches and the Tide has beaten Georgia six consecutive times.

“I sort of knew it was going to be a 15-round fight and we wouldn’t be winning until the late rounds,” Saban said.

Is there still a path for the SEC to put two teams in the CFP? Not unless somebody can beat Alabama, but the prospects of that don’t look good.

The SEC West already is in tatters. LSU and Auburn have each lost twice. Ole Miss and Mississippi State are more interesting than good. Arkansas is a nice turnaround story. Texas A&M has a chance to be the second-best team in the division and ‘Bama already rolled the Aggies.

With an offense that hardly missed Tua Tagovailoa and two first-round draft pick receivers, Alabama is set to rampage through the rest of its season behind Mac Jones and Najee Harris.

In the East, it looked like a GeorgiaFlorida race at the start of the season and nothing that has happened over the first four weeks has changed that. This strange season in which the SEC is playing nothing but conference games — and has already had to postpone three of them — appears filled with parity. Except at the very top.

The best-case scenario for the SEC is an Alabama- Georgia rematch in the SEC championship game, with Round Two going to the Bulldogs to leave both them and the Tide at 10-1.

There is so much season left to play, but let’s be realistic: The Big 12 has already taken massive hits. Do you really think No. 7 Oklahoma State has the stuff to put together an undefeated season? Do you really think a one-loss champion of a league that went 0-3 against the Sun Belt will get the nod over one of those SEC heavyweights?

A Pac-12 champion that plays only seven games? C’mon.

Unbeaten BYU? Not happening. There is good news for the rest of the country and the SEC haters, however.

After watching Georgia try to keep up with Alabama, there is no reason to believe a sequel in Atlanta would be any different than Part I in Tuscaloosa.

Georgia led 24-20 at halftime and didn’t score another point. Quarterback Stetson Bennett IV is a great story for the Bulldogs, but ultimately he is a 5-foot-10 former walk-on trying to beat Alabama.

Maybe Florida would be a better a matchup against Alabama? The Tide would probably drop 50 on the Gators, but at least they have an offense that might be able to keep up with a break or two. Georgia has the only defense in the SEC, maybe in the country, with a chance to hold down Alabama. And the Tide averaged 7.2 yards per play Saturday night. On its last four possessions, Alabama scored three straight touchdowns and then ran out the clock.

Two SEC teams in the College Football Playoff? Only if somebody can stop Alabama. And there is no reason to think anybody can.