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From several sources, it seems that the SEC v. All Y'all CFP expansion idea is still alive, but in Limbo. Basically, the SEC has worked up an idea where they would run their own 4 or 8 team playoff to conclude the season, with their champion willing to play the winner of the rest of the world. Sankey said he wasn't trying to use this as leverage - he was - but that reality dictated that the SEC have something ready to go. He said there literally is no CFP plan for Jan 2026. Basically, you have 3 years - Jan 2023, 24 and 25, and then nothing. He said that these things take time to resolve and get contracts signed with broadcasters and locations for games. He said the rest of CFB could sit around with their thumbs up their asses, but the SEC wasn't. If no one else wanted to get moving the SEC would have it's CFP ready to go in time for Jan 2026, and fuck everyone else. Ok, I paraphrased a few things there.
Sankey is saying, look, we had this great idea that everyone was behind. Everyone knows we will get there. 12 will be the number, we all know it. But some of you guys threw a temper tantrum. Well, we are adults over here in SEC land, and we will be prepared for 2026 even if you won't be. Drag your heels all you want ... ESPN will pay us a ton, that we don't have to split with 9 other conferences, to have a year end CFP if you don't get your shit together. I'd rather have a CFP with all y'all, but if you don't think we aren't having a playoff of some type in 2026, you are nuts.
I start by saying that I personally hope this doesn't happen. I've advocated here for more parity, and for the blue bloods to get good again, even when that is against my own best interests. I think CFB is best when you have a lot of good teams.
That said, The Alliance screwed the pooch in pulling back on CFP expansion simply because they were pissed at the SEC for doing exactly what they would have done had OU and TX approached them. They abandoned an idea that most CFB fans and schools were behind, and they lost billions of dollars. All the objections - even the stupid Rose Bowl objection - could have been worked through.
From these meetings it appears that the SEC has hardened its stance as follows:
- They will do 8 teams with no AQs, or 12 teams with AQs. They don't care if it is 5+1, or top 6 conferences, although they threw some shade at the B1G which stupidly is the conference that seems to be insisting on 5+1 when there is very little chance that they would ever not be in the top 6 conferences. The SEC might say that they will stay at 4, but really the money dictates expansion.
- An interesting note in The Athletic indicated that the idea of the top 4 conference champs getting the 4 byes is off the table. The SEC won't agree to that ... the byes will now go to the top 4 teams as determined by the committee. For example, this past year UGA would not have gotten a byte, and Baylor would have. Per the SEC, UGA and Bama would get byes.
From The Athletic:
Ultimately, the Big Ten and SEC will have to find enough common ground. And that likely will be with a 12-team playoff that includes six automatic qualifying spots. Whether five of those spots are guaranteed to certain leagues will be up for debate. A requirement that the four top seeds — the ones getting byes to the quarterfinals — must be conference champs sounds like a possibility the ACC, Big Ten and Pac-12 might have unwittingly traded away by stalling.
The opinions of the Big Ten and the SEC will be the only ones that truly matter this time. To switch to a new format with the original CFP deal required a unanimous vote. There is no such requirement this time because there is no contract, no framework, no anything.
Sankey is saying, look, we had this great idea that everyone was behind. Everyone knows we will get there. 12 will be the number, we all know it. But some of you guys threw a temper tantrum. Well, we are adults over here in SEC land, and we will be prepared for 2026 even if you won't be. Drag your heels all you want ... ESPN will pay us a ton, that we don't have to split with 9 other conferences, to have a year end CFP if you don't get your shit together. I'd rather have a CFP with all y'all, but if you don't think we aren't having a playoff of some type in 2026, you are nuts.
I start by saying that I personally hope this doesn't happen. I've advocated here for more parity, and for the blue bloods to get good again, even when that is against my own best interests. I think CFB is best when you have a lot of good teams.
That said, The Alliance screwed the pooch in pulling back on CFP expansion simply because they were pissed at the SEC for doing exactly what they would have done had OU and TX approached them. They abandoned an idea that most CFB fans and schools were behind, and they lost billions of dollars. All the objections - even the stupid Rose Bowl objection - could have been worked through.
From these meetings it appears that the SEC has hardened its stance as follows:
- They will do 8 teams with no AQs, or 12 teams with AQs. They don't care if it is 5+1, or top 6 conferences, although they threw some shade at the B1G which stupidly is the conference that seems to be insisting on 5+1 when there is very little chance that they would ever not be in the top 6 conferences. The SEC might say that they will stay at 4, but really the money dictates expansion.
- An interesting note in The Athletic indicated that the idea of the top 4 conference champs getting the 4 byes is off the table. The SEC won't agree to that ... the byes will now go to the top 4 teams as determined by the committee. For example, this past year UGA would not have gotten a byte, and Baylor would have. Per the SEC, UGA and Bama would get byes.
From The Athletic:
Ultimately, the Big Ten and SEC will have to find enough common ground. And that likely will be with a 12-team playoff that includes six automatic qualifying spots. Whether five of those spots are guaranteed to certain leagues will be up for debate. A requirement that the four top seeds — the ones getting byes to the quarterfinals — must be conference champs sounds like a possibility the ACC, Big Ten and Pac-12 might have unwittingly traded away by stalling.
The opinions of the Big Ten and the SEC will be the only ones that truly matter this time. To switch to a new format with the original CFP deal required a unanimous vote. There is no such requirement this time because there is no contract, no framework, no anything.
