Anybody who’s ever tempted fate with a long-drive family vacation knows the drill.

Are we there yet? Huh? Are we there yet?

We just left.

How many more miles?

A bunch.

How many minutes?

Bunch more.

Are we there yet?

Quit hitting your sister.

Same deal basically applies when trying to figure out when it’s OK to start sorting out the College Football Playoff, which probably came up on the million-questions car trip.

Are we there yet?

Not even close

When are we going to get there?

When I say so.

Do we know who’s going to the CFP yet?

Not even close.

When will we know?

The first rankings by the selection committee don’t even come out for two more weeks.

So we’ll know then, huh?

Not even close. That’s just the first rankings. They will change … a LOT.

Then why do they do them and tell everybody what they got so far?

Harmless fun.

But I saw where LSU is projected by some people to make it. You see those?

Yes, everything from a No. 7 seed to a postseason getting stuck in the Music City Bowl.

So does that count?

Don’t mean a thing. They’re guessing.

Then why do people do those projections if they’re just guessing?

Everybody has to make a living somehow, son. They’re not bad people, per se.

What about these percentages to make the playoffs — 18.7 percent, 23.2 percent, 19-point-gobbledygook percent?

Those numbers are conjured up by a smelly little gnome who lives under a bridge in upper Idaho. For all we know, he may be counting butterflies up there and passing it off to a hungry public. He laughs himself to sleep every morning — people fall for this stuff? — and then naps from daylight to dusk.

It might be AI.

Who?

Artificial Intelligence.

More flights of fancy. They’re teaching you that malarkey in school? Same stuff as when heading into the fourth quarter they can — they CLAIM they can; personally I think it’s a ruse — tell you that so-and-so now has a 94.4 percent chance of winning the game. My question is always: what would have had to happen differently to make it 94.2 percent. And if it’s accurate this world has gotten way too complicated.

If LSU beats Texas A&M will the Tigers be in?

It would be a good start — those are the last

two unbeaten SEC teams in conference play. Both 6-1 overall. But, no, too many more games to play.

So I jumped the gun?

A false start — 5 yards more. The Tigers are very familiar with them.

Does a loss knock them out?

No, but it would put their backs against the wall heading into the home Alabama game, which is no place for the faint-hearted.

But I heard Bama was hot, smoldering garbage this year?

You don’t really believe that, do you? Or, I should say, you don’t think it will last, do you?

So how many SEC teams will make the CFP this year?

We don’t know for sure. My guess would be four.

Has that ever happened?

No, but there’s never been a 12-team playoff before.

How many SEC teams still have chance?

I’d say eight.

Eight!!?

There’s never been a 16-team SEC before either.

What’s the best way to get in?

Win, of course. You know, the SEC champion gets the automatic bid and one of the four first-round byes. But I can’t imagine the other SEC team to make the championship game wouldn’t get one of the at-large bids, probably be next in line. And there probably would be room for two more. At least one more.

Who do you think makes the SEC title game?

Georgia and Texas, the sequel. For pregame, instead of one those make-a-field-goal-for-tuition kicks, a Longhorns student will get to throw a plastic beer bottle from the upper deck into a bucket at midfield.

Which eight are still hoping?

There’s six teams with 6-1 overall records — Texas A&M and LSU still with perfect conference records, then Georgia, Tennessee, Texas and Missouri. And Vanderbilt is 5-2, but is another with one conference loss.

Vander-Who?

You must have missed that memo. Nobody really understands it, but it’s the feel-good, fun story of the season, and the Commodores host Texas this week and …

Can they win?

No, but they can dream.

That’s still only seven hopefuls.

Still can’t rule out Alabama, even at 6-2, 2-2. I think it’s an NCAA rule or something.

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Scooter Hobbs covers LSU athletics. Email him at scooter.hobbs@americanpress.com