Tom Hart discusses Sankey's leadership being critical to SEC's 2020 success

Key notes from Tom Hart interview

• I love what you're getting from the SEC in the mindset that "We're going to play every game physically possible." That's making for great Saturdays, if nothing else, and that is all leading up to the collision course of Alabama v. Florida on the night of December 19th in Atlanta, GA.
   
• The rate for college football is 80% of games getting played. If you in the SEC are at 90% or better, it means you're doing something right. The protocols that the SEC put in are what is making this work. I don't want to bash other conferences, but it's clear to me that the ACC wanted to protect the teams that are headed to the title game... the SEC and Greg Sankey didn't do that. This has been a physical and emotionally stressful year for all these coaches and players, and they are making it through. There is something to be said to that.
   
• The difference with the SEC is this; in the middle of November, you had some teams trying to make excuses for missing games that weren't necessarily COVID related. Commissioner Greg Sankey came in, put his foot down, and they found a way to make things work.
   
• I think that was a good win for the Aggies because I saw Auburn as a trap game. I'm not sure that win, however, was convincing enough in the committees' eyes. I don't think this weekend's events were enough for the Aggies to jump Ohio State... but what happens if the Buckeyes don't play Michigan or don't play in the Big Ten title game? Then I think you look at Texas A&M, and the committee could view the resumes of each differently when you account for the whole body of work.
   
• Crazy things happen at the end of college football seasons... look back at 2007. Who's to say you couldn't get some more craziness this season? I will say this though, no matter what happens, I don't know how you keep Alabama out, even if they lose to Florida. Their body of work has been that good. There's one spot taken in the CFP four, in my opinion, and you have a handful of teams fighting for the final three. It's all going to work itself out.
   
• I'm not surprised Mark Stoops made a change at offensive coordinator. He has been watching things around the country, and he wants to get a more explosive offense into Lexington. Only time will tell on the South Carolina hire. Ray Tanner went through candidates and hired a young and energetic guy. Shane Beamer doesn't have the pedigree of running a program, but he does have experience from seeing a successful South Carolina program under Spurrier. Every hire right now, unless it's Urban Meyer, is going to be a gamble.
   
• I got two angles on what's going on in Austin. One, they eat their own young. They want so badly to be successful that they are always so quick to throw someone out when they are immediately successful. I'm not sure Tom Herman is the long-term answer in Austin, but it is SO HARD to judge anything in this pandemic. The other thing I know about the University of Texas is that they have money from my friendship with the late Auggie Garrido. He used to tell me, "Tom, if you need a million dollars, I'll make a couple of calls, and we will have a dump truck drop it into the endzone of Darrell K. Royal memorial stadium." I know that they made a real run at Urban Meyer, but things didn't work out.