Ray Glier

ATLANTA - The Southeastern Conference would have more to say about the business of selecting a national champion if it wasn’t for a minor detail.

Those Tigers, Gators, Vols, and Dogs have to play each other.

It’s hard to find a day off in the SEC.

Take, for instance, Saturday’s colossus. No. 6 LSU is at No. 3 Auburn. No. 7 Florida is at No. 13 Tennessee. The Big East has to schedule all season to get a day like that.

The Big Ten has Michigan-Ohio State, but the national championship race is already down to three or four teams by late November — and none of them are Michigan — so what’s at stake with that game?

The SEC, meanwhile, plays big games when we’re still sorting through contenders and pretenders. SEC teams worthy of staying in the national title chase can be eliminated, usually by one of their own, in October.

Compare that to the ACC. It had its spotlight moment with Florida State-Miami. Maybe there will be some buzz when Virginia Tech plays Miami on Nov. 4. Until then, we can look forward to Virginia or Georgia Tech vs. Wake Forest.

The Big 12 has Oklahoma-Texas. The conference wishes Nebraska would get itself together before it becomes a basketball league.

Pac-10 boss USC swings in the hammock until Notre Dame arrives in a couple of months.

Meanwhile, things routinely go bump in the SEC. Tennessee still has to play Georgia. Auburn still has to play Georgia. Tennessee has to play Alabama. Auburn has to play at Alabama.

And don’t forget Florida has to play at Auburn. Got all that?

Just look at these numbers: 3-6-7-10-13. That’s not the winning Powerball numbers, those are power football numbers. Five SEC squads in the AP Top 15.

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Like I said, try and pick a spot to rest. It isn’t easy.

The SEC is why we should take our eyes off a playoff system and focus on the regular season. SEC fans, for the most part, have already done that. They know what competition they can look forward to week-to-week and you don’t have it.

They can shrug at a bowl loss in January because they have had three months of duels, a terrific game or two a week to covet and analyze. You have Cincinnati vs. Ohio State.

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On the other hand, the SEC gauntlet is the biggest argument for a playoff in college football. One loss here, another close loss there, and a worthy team is out of the picture.

There are too many good SEC teams to choose from using the bowl system, not to mention an agenda-ridden poll system.

The problem with a playoff, however, is that it degrades the regular season. The games mean  more without a playoff; there are few second chances.

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Count up the playoff games in an eight-team playoff format. Seven.  The SEC has that many must-see games before Nov. 1. That’s another reason for the status quo and no playoffs.

Who wants to be like the NBA and have meaningless regular-season games for three months draining money from your wallet? Any day now you can expect the NFL to expand its postseason to make even more money.

It’s why the SEC fan has to get over the following scenario and sit back and just enjoy the regular season:

• Auburn beats LSU on Saturday, but loses to Florida on Oct. 14 and the Tigers get dumped to No. 7.
• Florida wins at Tennessee this weekend, but the Gators still face this rough march —  Alabama, LSU, Auburn, and Georgia — and lose a game and go to No. 9.
• The Vols, meanwhile, have to contend with the Gators, then Georgia, which clobbered a decent South Carolina team and slip to No. 17 with two losses against Top five teams.
• Georgia finally loses at Auburn and goes to No. 8.
• LSU, after losing to Auburn, tumbles to No. 8 and wins and wins, but still cannot gain enough ground to overtake West Virginia, which started too high.

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The winner of Louisville-West Virginia can thump its chest and stay safe at No. 4 or No. 5 until bowl season. One slip by Ohio State and the Mountaineers or Cardinals could be playing the USC-Notre Dame winner for the national championship.

It’s not fair, but the SEC fan should be content with the process and not bother to add things up at the end, just enjoy the beginning and the middle.

He or she has better football than you do and will enjoy September to November while you have a one night Fiesta in January.

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