College Football Playoff rankings live updates: Alabama, Indiana fall as SMU, Tennessee and Georgia rise

This point can’t be made enough as we head into a College Football Playoff with four teams from the second-best conference and three from the best: The more bloated a league becomes, the less its collective significance.

So, yes, the SEC has the most quality teams as usual. But it’s down this season as far as elite teams go. It may not have one at all. It has saved itself. And even with a playoff bloated to 12, the biggest collection of pretty good to really good won’t win you anything.