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Greg McElroy has heard the potential formats in play for the College Football Playoff, including the interest of the SEC in a 5+11 model.
According to widespread reporting, the SEC currently favors that potential model that would feature 5 automatic bids to conference champions and 11 at-large bids to the remaining highest-ranked teams. However, the Big Ten currently favors a 4+4+2+2+1 model of automatic qualifiers with just 3 at-large bids available.
During the SEC Spring Meetings, commissioner Greg Sankey said the league is not committed to any particular model, and he also said the 4+4+2+2+1 model could actually wind up costing the SEC future Playoff spots.
According to McElroy, the discussion between the two models ultimately boils down to the SEC’s conference schedule. The SEC currently plays 8 conference games, which likely lends itself to the conference favoring the 5+11 model if they do not add the 9th conference game to the schedule.
“Because the SEC right now is in the midst of a real knock-down, drag-out discussion about whether or not they want to adopt that 9th conference game. As of this moment, the SEC only plays 8 conference games, which means if you add that 9th game against a really quality opponent, then you might be subjected to having another loss,” said McElroy during his latest episode of “Always College Football.” “If you keep it at 8 (games), the likelihood of you finishing with an extra win is higher, meaning the likelihood of you getting an at-large bid would actually increase as well. That I think as well is part of the discussion. It’s a leverage point for the SEC.”
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At this juncture, McElory says the Big Ten is “strongly opposed” to the 5+11 model, and a lot of that has to do with their 9-game league schedule.
Coming out of the spring meetings, Sankey addressed the SEC schedule but did not have a firm answer on whether the league stays at 8 conference games or adds a 9th. He said that the main focus for now is getting “clarity around CFP direction” before determining what to do with the schedule, and it will be interesting to see which direction that takes.
Paul Harvey lives in Atlanta and covers SEC football.
