No runner-up 10-2 ACC team should bump 9-3 SEC teams from the Playoffs

Game results in the 2024 season might improve the reputation of the ACC. High ranking projections for SEC football teams might not come to fruition. There are seven regular season games between SEC and ACC teams. If Clemson wins its two, which includes beating Georgia and North Carolina State knocks off Tennessee the reputation of the ACC will get a boost.

More realistic is ACC teams beating Vanderbilt and South Carolina, along with maybe Florida and Kentucky, while Georgia, Tennessee, and Ole Miss beat their ACC opponents. Such results would not change the ACC's stature. That stature is the ACC is not one of a Power Four. Along with the Big 12, the ACC is on the lower tier of a Power Two + two more conferences which are stronger than the Group of Five (plus Washington State and Oregon State).

Challenging the ACC's football competitiveness matters little now. It could matter much in December when the final 12-team CFB Playoff field is set. If the Playoff Selection Committee has some precise use of Strength of Schedule (SOS) to rank teams, it is not known.

SEC football fans may not know all the selection process details but there should be no debate that SOS should matter greatly. If it does, no 10-2 ACC runner-up should bump a group of potential 9-3 SEC football teams from the Playoffs.

The reason why is simple. Achieving a 9-3 record is more difficult for an SEC football team, than is reaching a 10-2 record for an ACC team. In the preseason, SOS projections can be flawed but based on ESPN's current FPI, the SOS for ACC teams is far lower than most SEC football teams.

Alabama Crimson Tide and other SEC Football SOS

Other than Georgia Tech with an SOS of No. 9, other ACC teams SOSs are ranked lower than 15 SEC football teams. The 15 teams are Florida (No. 1), Mississippi State (No. 2), Georgia (No. 3), Kentucky (No. 4), Auburn (No. 5), Alabama (No. 6), Oklahoma (No. 7), Tennessee (No. 8), Texas (No. 10), Vanderbilt (No. 14), South Carolina (No. 17), Texas A&M (No. 20), Arkansas (No. 21), Ole Miss (No. 22, and LSU (No. 23).

The second-highest ACC SOS is Clemson at No. 26. The three toughest ACC schedules are held by Clemson, Florida State (No. 31), and Louisville (No. 34). Miami, sometimes mentioned as a Playoff contender, has a SOS of No.53.

Florida, Auburn, Kentucky, and Mississippi State should not be included in Playoff projections. But should any of Georgia, Alabama, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Texas finish the regular season at 9-3, they would deserve a Playoff slot more than a 10-2 Miami team and even a 10-2 FSU team. Ole Miss and LSU would have a similar claim.