The SEC and Big Ten are currently at a standstill over the College Football Playoff format
The SEC and Big Ten are currently at a standstill over the College Football Playoff format
ATLANTA (AP) — Southeastern Conference Commissioner Greg Sankey said Monday that despite frequent conversations with Big Ten counterpart Tony Petitti, the two leagues have yet to agree on the College Football Playoff format after this coming season and could leave it at 12 teams.
The disagreement doesn’t stem from a lack of communication. Sankey said he spoke with Petitti four times last week.
“We had a different view coming out of Destin around the notion of allocations,” Sankey said. “The Big Ten has a different view. That’s fine. We have a 12-team playoff, five conference champions. That could stay if we can’t agree.”
The Big Ten, which has won the last two national championships, favors a 4-4-2-2-1 format, giving four automatic bids to the SEC and Big Ten and awarding the ACC and Big 12 two bids apiece. The SEC, originally thought to be on the same page, switched gears at its spring meetings in Destin, Florida. The SEC favors five conference champions and 11 at-large bids, which would presumably favor the top conferences most seasons.
The CFP announced in May that teams in the upcoming playoff will be seeded strictly on where they are ranked instead of moving pieces around to reward conference champions. Last season’s jumbled bracket, the first with 12 teams, gave byes to Big 12 champion Arizona State and Mountain West champion Boise State, even though they were ranked 12th and ninth, respectively, by the playoff selection committee.
That system made the rankings and the seedings in the tournament two different things. The five highest-ranked conference champions will still be guaranteed spots in the playoff.
While the CFP contract from 2026 through the 2031 season requires the SEC and Big Ten to consult other leagues about prospective changes to the playoff system, it also provides them with the ability to impose changes they both want.
Now it’s a matter of getting on the same page.
“I think there’s this notion that there has to be this magic moment and something has to happen with expansion and it has to be forced — no,” Sankey said. “When you’re given authority, you want to be responsible in using that authority. I think both of us are prepared to do so. The upfront responsibility in this, maybe where some of the confusion lies, is we have the ability to present a format or format ideas, gather information, see if we can all agree within that room. We don’t need unanimity.”
Sankey stands firm on the 8-game schedule
One of the major complications in the College Football Playoff conversation is the SEC’s schedule. Three of the four power conferences play nine league games. The SEC isn’t one of them.
Sankey isn’t denying the fact that the SEC plays one less league game, but he won’t allow the narrative that it gives his conference an advantage.
“It is absolutely fully 100 percent correct that in the SEC, we play eight conference games while some others play nine conference games — never been a secret,” Sankey said. “It’s also correct that last season, all 16 members of the Southeastern Conference played at least nine games against what you would label ‘power opponents.’”
He doubled down.
“I don’t believe there’s anyone looking to swap their conference schedule and its opponents with the opponents played by SEC conference teams in our conference schedule, be it eight or nine.”
A decision on adding a ninth game may be coming soon, but Sankey wasn’t overly eager to reveal a timeline.
“It won’t linger terribly much longer. We have to make decisions about the ’26 season and adjust. If we’re going to go to nine games, then there have to be games moved or rescheduled. If we stay at eight, probably a little easier on that part of the logistics.”
Adapting to the new normal
Sankey addressed the media-packed room two weeks after the NCAA settlement officially went into effect, launching a long list of changes, including the introduction of revenue sharing.
Most Power Four institutions have had carefully crafted post-settlement plans in store for months. But according to Sankey, even deep-pocketed, well-resourced conferences have struggled to adapt.
“We’re in the middle of change, and in the middle of anything significant, it will get messy. That doesn’t mean you leave. In a marathon, it doesn’t mean you step off the course because myself, as poorly as I may have felt sometimes after two or three miles, recall that those moments might actually produce the best efforts,” he said.
But in a time when many have been quick to call college sports a dying breed, Sankey begs to differ.
“Let me be clear. From my perspective, college athletics is not broken,” he said. “It is under stress. It is strained.”
___
AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/college-football
By MAURA CAREY
AP Sports Writer
