It is the most wonderful time of the year for college football fans, unless your team was snubbed from the 12-team College Football Playoff. Two years ago, teams ranked fifth through 12th would not have been part of the picture, and programs like James Madison and Tulane would not be celebrating postseason inclusion.
Greg Sankey stands firm on 16-team College Football Playoff
While the expansion to a 12-team playoff has broadly been welcomed, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey believes the format is not yet in its final form. Speaking on The Rich Eisen Show, Sankey said the model has “some clunkiness” because it was introduced in 2021, before conference realignment that included Oklahoma and Texas joining the SEC and broader changes across the sport. As a result of their departure, an accelerating wave of realignment across college football began.
The Big 12 added BYU, Cincinnati, Houston, and UCF ahead of the move, then brought in Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, and Utah to stabilize the league at 16 teams. The move also helped finish off the Pac-12 as a power conference. In the interest of moving forward, Sankey has a clear vision and is not afraid to speak his mind about what he believes should come next for the College Football Playoff.
He noted that leaders were slow to adapt, initially slow to accept the 12-team idea. “We were slow to adapt in real time because we were slow to accept the 12-team idea. And I was part of the group that introduced 12. I think 12 was right. I think it was done at the right time.”
Sankey believes that the SEC as a whole views the move to a 16-team playoff as the “next right step,” noting it would allow for 11 at-large bids while still honoring conference champions. He acknowledges that there is growing frustration over lower-ranked conference champions earning playoff spots while higher-ranked teams are left out.
"I do expect there’s going to be a lot of stress about the low-ranked conference champions that are in this thing right now because they’ve displaced some much more highly ranked teams. That’s the point of controversy.”
He added that continued adaptation is necessary, though it remains unclear whether the College Football Playoff management committee will reach a consensus on expanding to 16 teams. "(So) I do think we have to continue to adapt. Our league has said 16 is the right next step. Whether we can agree upon that or not as a group in the College Football Playoff management committee, that remains to be seen.”
The SEC has five teams in this year's 12-team College Football Playoff: Georgia, Ole Miss, Oklahoma, and Texas A&M. Notable national snubs include Notre Dame and BYU, with no SEC team left outside the field deemed to be truly snubbed.
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