SEC employer: Need to ‘rethink’ CFP in the middle of adjustment

• Chris Low, ESPN

  • Senior Citizen WriterAug 21, 2023, 12:08 PM ET Close College football reporter Signed up with ESPN.com in 2007
  • Graduate of the University of Tennessee

As the winds of modification continue to swirl in college athletics, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey stated more modification is coming, particularly with regard to college football’s postseason format, and restated that the SEC would not be reactionary to what the Big Ten or any other conference is doing.

“Right now, you put it in bold letters that things are going to change. Duration,” Sankey told ESPN in a recent interview. “And we’re all going to have to be prepared to deal with that modification. Duration.”

Sankey, one of 10 FBS commissioners who supervise the College Football Playoff in addition to Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick, is encouraged that the 12-team format, which he assisted author and which was agreed upon for the 2024 season, needs to be reexamined. Per that format, the six highest-ranked conference champions by the playoff committee would make the playoff, together with the next 6 highest-ranked teams. The 4 highest-ranked conference champions would make the front runners and a first-round bye.But with the Pac-12 quickly down to four groups with Oregon and Washington heading to the Huge 10 and Arizona, Arizona State, Utah and Colorado leaving for the Huge 12, Sankey stated “we need to reassess” the playoff model with college football’s landscape altering so drastically. There’s likewise a push by some to get Cal and Stanford in the ACC, and Florida State’s president has said the Seminoles will look to leave the ACC if they do not get a bigger portion of the revenue being produced because league.

“The scenarios have altered, and we require to reevaluate the format,” Sankey said. “I’m not encouraged we require to reassess the number of groups, and I have actually been clear that I would have been okay with an eight-team playoff with no conference champion access. That wasn’t, if you will, politically tenable within the group. So as we continued to take a look at the models, we created the six-and-six model. However, once again, the scenarios have altered in a meaningful method, and my disposition is we need to reexamine the present format.”

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1 Related The FBS commissioners will meet next week in Dallas and then again in September in Chicago. The SEC is the only conference to have had a group in the playoff every year considering that its creation in the 2014 season.Sankey stressed that the SEC would have been OK had the four-team format with no automated qualifiers stayed in location, but likewise acknowledged a responsibility to be as inclusive as possible.”We’re adding Oklahoma and Texas, and we

‘re not going to have less groups associated with the postseason with the addition of those two historical programs to our present 14,”Sankey stated.”We might remain at 4 and we might remain at the 4 best groups, which is just a simple representation of our mindset.” But the idea of 12 produces a balance. I believe all of that’s an indication of a desire to support the game more broadly than just one conference’s interests. If it was just one conference’s interests, I might have been obstinate that we remain at 4 as long as we wanted and then let’s go work out Year 13 [2026] and beyond as opposed to attempt and continue to grow the game and bring individuals into the national championship.”Mississippi State president Mark Keenum, who is the chair of the CFP board of supervisors, proposed a 12-team format with no automatic qualifiers last summertime, but that proposition did not receive enough votes to pass.”We spent a great deal of time and discussion when we started down this course on how to get beyond 4,” Keenum informed ESPN.”My position was that I desired the top 12 groups. I comprehend there’s fantastic status being a significant conference champ. At the end of the day, however, it depends on where they’re ranked. We want to make certain we have the best groups completing in our nation’s playoff to determine the champ.”So, that’s where I’ve been. But again, as you work through something like this, you have to be willing to make compromises.

Now, we’re going forward with all the shifting of schools amongst conferences, and I don’t think any of us understand what the playoff will look like from 2024 on.”As modification comes to the playoff– and whatever the design looks like– Sankey is unconcerned about any remaining accusations that the committee has shown predisposition

towards SEC schools. “Well, it was 65-7 in 2015(Georgia beating TCU in the national championship), and the year prior to, we had two teams in the national championship, and I believe there were 2

quite definitive success in the semifinals,”Sankey stated. “So a minimum of from an SEC viewpoint, when we’ve had access, we’ve proven the wisdom of the selection committee.”Sankey said jokingly that he uses the old antiperspirant tv commercial with his personnel about “never let them see you sweat”whenever the changing landscape in college sports

is discussed in any detail. But that said, he’s determined that the SEC does not feel any pressure to broaden even if the Big 10 or Big 12 have ventured out west.”In the existing situation, to be extremely direct, we don’t feel pressure to go to some number, the notion of having an existence in all four time zones,”Sankey stated. “I suggest, we are an existence in all four time zones. In truth, we go from time zone to time zone around the globe and people have interest. I have actually had emails today from the UK about accessing our games.”Asked straight whether other schools had reached out to the SEC during this current wave of shuffling, Sankey stated,”No, not truly. I would not say that. I’m never one that puts out there what occurs or who we might be or might not be hearing from. I’ll answer it by saying I’m

completely aware of what’s happening around us.”In the past, Sankey stated the SEC would always want to listen if there were schools offered that created worth. However he worried that worth goes far beyond dollars and cents. “What we have actually done in the past is an education to the future, which’s include philosophically lined up

universities that are devoted to supporting nationwide championship-caliber programs, both of which academically and athletically are of the greatest levels in this nation, “Sankey stated.

“So we understand who we are, and we’re comfortable because. “Sankey said he has seen with interest as the discussion has actually ramped up about the challenges groups will likely come across when they start making cross-country trips to play games, especially the Olympic sports if they’re taking a trip throughout the week.” I sit and I enjoy the commentary about all that, and it’s almost like the ‘Forrest Gump’woman,’ Hey, we’re over here,'”Sankey said.” There was a short article about the college basketball coaches stating,’Hey, leave us alone in this thing, and why do we have to be lumped in with football and this geographical shift?'”And I resemble,’ Hey, we’re over here. Our deal works quite darn well.’ So, it’s great to see individuals speaking about everyone else.'”