- SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey stated that expanding the college football playoff to 16 teams should be a priority.
- The Big Ten and SEC have not yet agreed on a format for a potential 16-team playoff.
- The Big Ten has favored a model with more automatic bids, while the SEC prefers a format with more at-large selections.
ATHENS, GA – SEC commissioner Greg Sankey desires playoff expansion, but the hour grows late to strike a deal to grow the playoff by next season.
Speaking with reporters before Saturday’s Texas-Georgia game, Sankey raised a call to grow the College Football Playoff by four teams, but the SEC and Big Ten remain unable so far to agree on how those bids should be allocated.
“The move to 16 should be a priority for all of us in conference leadership,” Sankey said.
There’s a Dec. 1 deadline to expand the playoff for next season. If the SEC and Big Ten can’t agree to an expanded format, “we’re at 12” for next season, Sankey said.
This meshes with what CFP executive director Rich Clark has said previously: If the SEC and Big Ten don’t agree on a 16-team format, then that will prolong the current format for at least another season.
Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti has pushed for a 16-team format that pre-assigns multiple automatic qualifiers to each of the Power Four conferences. Petitti also likes the idea of play-in games determining which teams receive those automatic bids.
The Big Ten, though, found itself alone on an island this summer favoring a 3+3+2+2+1+3 format, which would allocate three automatic bids apiece to the Big Ten and SEC, two each to the ACC and Big 12, one to the Group of Five, leaving three at-large bids. This format, loaded with auto bids, would achieve Petitti’s goal of reducing the selection committee’s role in determining bids.
The SEC does not share that goal.
For years, Sankey has preferred formats using at-large selection to determine bids. When the playoff expanded from four, Sankey initially wanted to keep all bids assigned by an at-large process, but the SEC compromised and accepted the current 5+7 format that’s in place for the 12-team format, with five automatic bids and seven at-large selections.
The SEC threw support behind a 5+11 playoff format last summer, a plan ACC and Big 12 officials have said they would support. The Big Ten remained a holdout on that plan, and playoff expansion cannot occur without the two main power brokers — the SEC and Big Ten — coming to terms.
Is there any format the SEC would accept other than 5+11?
“Sure, 16+0,” said Sankey, referring to a 16-team playoff in which all 16 bids would be awarded via at-large selection. “But, that’s not reality.”
“The opportunity to have a 16-team format with five conference champions with access and 11 (at-large) is something we could accept,” he added.
The question persists of whether the Big Ten can accept that 5+11 plan.
Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network’s senior national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.