ESPN's Heather Dinich was panned for suggesting a three-loss Georgia team could still make the College Football Playoff Credit: ‘The Pat McAfee Show’
By Sam Neumann on

Even with the expanded College Football Playoff, there will be a push to get as many SEC and Big Ten teams in as possible. And that push is already coming from within the media, as ESPN’s Heather Dinich went on Pat McAfee’s show Tuesday and acknowledged she’d have a hard time keeping a three-loss SEC team out of a 12-team playoff.

Dinich’s remarks didn’t exist in a vacuum. On ESPN’s Always College Football, Greg McElroy painted a similar picture, imagining a “doomsday” scenario in which LSU, with three losses, somehow slides into the playoff mix—and even grabs a first-round bye.

It’s a scenario that seems more fitting for an SEC Network fever dream than a legitimate postseason bracket.

But McElroy didn’t receive the same pushback as Dinich for her comments on The Pat McAfee Show.

“Even as you continue to see these teams with two losses — and as much as people keep throwing out the word ‘elimination games’ every week, I would really hesitate to eliminate a three-loss SEC team,” said Dinich. “And that includes if Georgia loses to Tennessee. And, yes, I just said that, and here’s why: because in the first 10 years of the College Football Playoff, there have been 13 three-loss teams ranked in the selection committee’s top 10 on selection day.

“So, this has happened before. And if history repeats itself, then you could potentially see a three-loss SEC team in. But they’re not all created equal — let me make that clear. All three-loss SEC teams are not created equal. If Ole Miss loses a third game, they’re done. LSU they’re going to be way down at the bottom of the barrel right now. Georgia, though, has one of the toughest schedules in the country. That’s why I treat them a little differently — and I think the committee could, too.”

Giving special treatment to a back-to-back National Champion is one thing; bending the rules for a three-loss team just because they’re in the SEC is another. We’re facing the same dilemmas we saw with Florida State and Alabama last year, only now with eight more playoff spots at stake. Convincing anyone that a two-loss SMU, Miami, or a one-loss Big 12 team—after a potential Conference Championship loss—should be left out to make room for Georgia won’t be an easy sell.

But you don’t have to convince us. Good luck selling it to the five million users on X who have already engaged with the post, along with a much larger segment of college football fans and media still frustrated by the perceived SEC bias.

The SEC’s dominance in the media narrative seems inevitable, no matter how the Playoff is structured.

If the push to secure a spot for a hypothetical three-loss Georgia or LSU starts this early, it’s clear that the expanded format might not fix what it was designed to address: giving more teams a fair shot.

[ESPN CFB]

About Sam Neumann

Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.

View all posts by Sam Neumann