Last year’s last-place team was Mississippi State as the only 0-8 team. This year, it’s the same situation but a different team: Arkansas, which is the only team Mississippi State beat.

Here's where Alabama football stands in the latest College Football Playoff rankings before the SEC championship vs. Georgia.

Neither has come to fruition thus far. Even after the College Football Playoff moved to a straight-seeding format for the 2025 season, it still preserved automatic bids for the five highest-ranked conference champions -- adding even more motivation to win a title.

Four new head coaches joined the league Sunday, with a fifth jumping from one school to another and a sixth fired late that night. The SEC was completely reconfigured in less than 24 hours.