Shane Beamer Says SEC Needs Auto CFB Playoff Bids After Disastrous Bowl Season

Anyone who watched bowl games at the end of 2024 and start of 2025 knows that the SEC as a conference had a disastrous run of form in the college football postseason.

Texas A&M lost to USC. Tennessee was obliterated by Ohio State in the College Football Playoff. Alabama lost to a mediocre Michigan team. Navy beat Oklahoma. Illinois beat South Carolina. Arizona State had a potential fourth quarter win over Texas taken away by poor officiating. Notre Dame beat Georgia. Then Ohio State easily handled Texas, cementing a second consecutive title by a Big Ten team soon afterward.

While the SEC did have some bowl wins, and clearly a number of the top teams in the country, no one who follows college football could seriously consider saying that this year's results showed the SEC deserved more respect and automatic benefits. 

Except for South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer, apparently.

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COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA - NOVEMBER 16: Head coach Shane Beamer of the South Carolina Gamecocks looks on in the second quarter during their game against the Missouri Tigers at Williams-Brice Stadium on November 16, 2024 in Columbia, South Carolina. (Photo by Jacob Kupferman/Getty Images)

Shane Beamer Says SEC Deserves CFP Automatic Bids

Beamer, speaking to On3's Pete Nakos, said that he believes that it's "just different" in the SEC, and that means the conference deserves automatic bids into the College Football Playoff.

"The fact of the matter is, we beat the ACC Champion on their field this year and didn't get in…I do believe this league is just different than others and there has to be some consideration."

Well, that is certainly a take. It's also a laughable one.

South Carolina lost to Illinois in a bowl game. Illinois. They finished the season 9-4. This is a team that deserved to be in the college football playoff?

They beat Old Dominion by four points. At home. Literally, 23-19. Over Old Dominion. They lost to LSU, who finished the season unranked. They scored three points in a 27-3 loss to Ole Miss. And of course, lost to four-loss Alabama as well. 

Yes, they beat Clemson. But it's not like having one quality win over another conference champion automatically guarantees entry into the playoff. Even with 12 teams. 

The narrative of "it's just different in the SEC" needs to stop. Not now, yesterday. Yes, the SEC has many great programs, some with historic success and some with recent success. They have exceptional fan support. And they have a powerful media ecosystem that tells fans that things really are different. It isn't. 

When USC was dominating college football, no one acted like it was "just different" in the Pac-10. That's what's happened with Alabama; other SEC teams have acted like Nick Saban's success somehow made the entire conference unbeatable in hypothetical games. 

In some ways, the SEC actually has it easier than other top conferences. The Big Ten, for example, now has cross-country travel, where teams on the West Coast travel to Maryland or New Jersey. The SEC, despite expansion, is still generally contained to the South. Then there's the fact that they play eight conference games instead of the Big Ten's nine. And most use that extra non-conference game to play an FCS team late in the season to give themselves an effective bye week.

With 12 playoff spots available, all South Carolina had to do to get in was not lose three times. That's what they did. Sorry.