With Georgia's victory over Oklahoma in the Rose Bowl and Alabama defeating Clemson in the Sugar Bowl, we're all primed for an all-SEC national title game. Despite the controversy about them making it in in the first place, Alabama put any questions about its worthiness to rest by thumping Clemson 24-6, while Georgia beat Oklahoma in a double overtime barn-burner 54-48.
The thing is, this is the SEC we're talking about, so there's no room for rationality in talking about this. You're either a rabid SEC homer or college football's version of the proletariat looking to tear SEC teams from their ivory towers. There are plenty of people in both camps, with Monday's college football action pulling Twitter in all sorts of different directions all night.
Some people are just here for angry Twitter, of course.
#SugarBowl sees the score and immediately comes to twitter to watch people complain about an all-SEC Championship pic.twitter.com/mYZUU7yO3t
— Brittany (@QueenBree1989) January 2, 2018
2 hours ago: "The SEC was overrated this year!"
— Bulldogs Game Day (@WSBbulldogs) January 2, 2018
Now: "Looks like an All-SEC title game next week." pic.twitter.com/Ejnh57Lky6
Others didn't love the implications for the playoff system.
So the SEC Champ is going to have to play the third place finisher in their own league, after beating the team that beat said team, in order to win the National Championship........got it....#RoseBowl was a classic while this game is painfully one sided #GoodNight
— Joel Klatt (@joelklatt) January 2, 2018
This is so bad for college football. Fans are really gonna see thru the farce we call “playoffs” and realize it’s a rigged system designed to benefit the elites.
— Danny Kanell (@dannykanell) January 2, 2018
So the CFP was created in response to an all-SEC title game, and now in the CFP era, we are about to get an all-SEC title game 🤔
— Nathan Kuhr (@natekuhr) January 2, 2018
CFB fans if Alabama wins and we get an all-SEC national title game... #CFBPlayoff pic.twitter.com/RSHndBJ6Pf
— RedditCFB (@RedditCFB) January 2, 2018
And still others are pretty sick of hearing about how the SEC doesn't deserve two teams in the playoffs.
Everyone can have fake angst about having an all-SEC final, but the simple truth is tonight proves the committee got it right. A fully healthy Bama was - and is - a significantly better team than Ohio State. Good for the committee for giving us the four best teams
— Aaron Torres (@Aaron_Torres) January 2, 2018
The SEC has won 8 of the last 11 national championships and on the cusp of an All-SEC National Title game.
— Peter Burns (@PeterBurnsESPN) January 2, 2018
You don’t ever have to get “back” if you never left. https://t.co/T97Aeq2YHA
You know what’s the best marketing job for SEC Football?
— Peter Burns (@PeterBurnsESPN) January 2, 2018
Having an All-SEC National Championship game. https://t.co/xcKYC5NUw9
All-SEC championship game...
— Radi Nabulsi (@RadiNabulsi) January 2, 2018
Overrated conference some said....
Alabama looked utterly dominant in its win over Clemson, so people arguing that it didn't deserve to be there seems insane. Either way, pointing to LSU-Alabama in 2011-12 as the reason that this is bad doesn't make much sense. Those were two different teams, and the playoff was created in part to curb that instance from happening again. The selection process may not be perfect, but it definitely makes these games feel premium, and two SEC teams happened to win to advance. They weren't arbitrarily picked for a title game.
Regardless of what people want or who they think should have played Clemson, Alabama is in. It will play the SEC champion in Georgia as it tries to claim a much bigger prize -- and whether they like it or not, people will tune in to watch.