“We’ve scheduled tough,” Swinney said. “All you can do is play the schedule that you have. It is what it is. We basically have an SEC-Big Ten invitational; that’s basically what we’ve got in college football. So you’ve just got to focus on what you’ve got.”

For that, the conference can thank the 12-team College Football Playoff. Without it, this would be a much different season for the league. Were the four-team CFP still in effect this year, the SEC would likely be one Texas loss from missing the Playoff for the first time in the event’s 11-year history.