Georgia survived an almighty scare on Friday night, beating rivals Georgia Tech 44-42 after an astonishing eight overtimes to likely secure its place in the College Football Playoff.

But the manner of the win has raised huge questions over the quality of SEC this year amid calls from the conference and its commissioner Greg Sankey to have more guaranteed places in the 12-team playoff.

The No. 7 Bulldogs trailed 17-0 at the half and found themselves in deep trouble inside the final four minutes of regulation at Sanford Stadium, trailing 27-13. To their credit, Kirby Smart’s team clutched up and Carson Beck connected with Dominic Lovett for two quickfire touchdowns to tie the game with a minute remaining.

Both teams scored touchdowns on their first two drives in overtime before the madness finally ended at the eighth time of trying with Nate Frazier powering into the endzone to clinch the most dramatic of victories for the Bulldogs.

Job done for Smart and his players, who would likely have missed out on a place in the SEC championship game and the playoff if they had been beaten. But Georgia (10-2) was deeply unconvincing against a middle-of-the-pack ACC team in the form of the 7-5 Yellow Jackets.

It has been a rather underwhelming season for SEC teams so far, with no dominant force emerging from the conference. Texas leads the way at 10-1, but does not have a top-25 win on its record and it was handily beaten by Georgia last month. Georgia, Alabama, Ole Miss and Tennessee, meanwhile, have shown inconsistencies and all have lost multiple games.

Yet Sankey and conference chiefs believes the SEC should have more guaranteed entries to the playoff. The conference has widely been recognized as the strongest in college football for many years, but it is treated the same as any other power conference when it comes to playoff qualification, with only conference champions guaranteed a seat at the table.

ESPN reported in September that both the SEC and the Big Ten are lobbying to have four guaranteed spots each in the playoff starting in 2026, while Sankey has repeatedly stated his case that his conference is superior to the rest.

“Interesting to read analysis from others as they examine ‘strength of schedule’ in college football,” Sankey posted on social media last week. “It does seem there is a trend to be identified.”

Sankey was pointing to analysis from numerous outlets that found the teams that had played the toughest schedules out of the top 15 in the rankings were all six SEC teams in contention.

But Georgia’s performance on Friday saw numerous figures from the world of college football take aim on social media at Sankey’s notion that the SEC should be given special treatment.

USA Today columnist Dan Wolken said: “Georgia may win an SEC title but can’t physically dominate a mid-pack ACC team. Greg Sankey should probably keep his mouth shut this week.”

Ari Wasserman of On3 posted: “If Georgia loses this game – or even if it doesn’t – we need to stop saying the SEC is just better than everyone else. There is no gifting them extra spots because it is the SEC. That’s not what the results say.”

The Associated Press’ Tim Reynolds joked: “Georgia Tech hath opened a giant can of whup on Georgia. The SEC is going to have a tough time getting more than 9 teams into the playoff now.”

Sankey is not going to stop championing his conference, though, and this debate is not going to end anytime soon. But displays like Friday’s lucky escape for the Bulldogs certainly do not help the SEC’s cause.