The Big Ten and Pac-12 have decided to postpone football season until at least 2021, which means they won’t be participating in the 2020 College Football Playoff.

As the ACC, Big 12 and SEC move forward this season, that begs the question — how legitimate will a national champion be with only 3 of the Power 5 conferences playing?

Appearing on 3HL on 104.5 The Zone in Nashville on Monday, ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit said he does think this year’s champion will have an asterisk since there’s no Big Ten and no Pac-12 (via 247Sports):

“I’ve thought about that, and I think there will be an asterisk no matter what,” Herbstreit said. “I just heard you guys before I came on talking about the AP Top 25. I think Ohio State was No. 2. Penn State was up there. Oregon was up there. All up in the top 10. If we just threw them in, for argument’s sake, and we asked the entire nation of analysts, ‘Who is going to be in your playoff?’ The consensus is probably going to be an Alabama or Georgia type of team, an Ohio State, a Clemson, and then an argument about is there a second SEC team or Big Ten team? Does Oregon make it? Does Oklahoma make it? That would be the discussion, so you’re really eliminating Ohio State, Oregon, and Penn State from the potential playoff.”

That won’t be a popular opinion in SEC country, but not having a juggernaut like Ohio State in the mix does hurt the potential Playoff field.

This will surely continue to be a debated question all the way through the season.