No one knows exactly what the College Football Playoff selection committee will do in the first year of the 12-team playoff, but SEC commissioner Greg Sankey stumped for his conference before the Texas-Texas A&M showdown Saturday night at Kyle Field.

Alabama and Ole Miss were knocked to the canvas after road upsets, splintering the SEC's College Football Playoff picture coming down the stretch. In our latest bracket projection, SMU is the major beneficiary from SEC chaos,

Notre Dame is rising, Indiana is holding steady and the SEC's hopes of having more than three College Football Playoff teams are cratering.