Hunter Yurachek believes SEC's eight-game conference schedule isn't broke: 'Why make that jump?'

Hunter Yurachek is in a unique position when it comes to the SEC considering an eight-game versus a nine-game conference schedule. As a member of the College Football Playoff Selection Committee, as well as the Vice Chancellor and Director of Athletics at the University of Arkansas, his loyalties lay in a couple of different places.

Still, he joined The Paul Finebaum Show to discuss the matter on Wednesday. While many in the SEC are looking to move to a nine-game conference schedule, Yurachek doesn’t think the eight-game version is broken. It all depends on the future of the CFP, and whether the SEC can secure multiple automatic bids.

“It’s tied together with the CFP format, and their definitive allocation for the SEC for a number of spots within the Playoff,” Yurachek stated, regarding the SEC looking to add an extra conference game to it’s schedule. “Is there not going to be that? You know, we’ve reviewed so many of those models, it’s tied to that. You want to make sure you have the best chance to have access from the Southeastern Conference to the College Football Playoff.

“We’ve proven that the eight-game schedule has given us that access through the years. It’s not broke right now, so why make that jump, unless you know you’re going to have the same access potential with nine games? Because that’s eight more losses for our league. We saw last year — I’m on that committee, a loss late, like Alabama had, and a loss late like Ole Miss had? That hurts you in that CFP committee room.”

While many in the SEC may not want to hear it, especially in Tuscaloosa, Oxford and Columbia, Yurachek added that he believes the committee got it right last season. The only issue he had with the Playoff was the seeding, and that’s been rectified.

“I really think all the committee got it right last year,” Yurachek added. “I’m partial, because I’m a member of that committee. Warde Manuel did a great job, from the University of Michigan, of leading us. I think, the one flaw that I saw has been fixed, with the seeding. If you kept the seeding the way it should have been last year — you had some compelling matchups, but with the conference champions, Boise State and Arizona State, being guaranteed a spot in those No. 3 and No. 4 spots, I think that was the one fallacy in the process.

“You look at Alabama, where they were, they were No. 11. They were technically in the Playoff, but then Clemson wins the ACC gets, that automatic (bid) and bumps Alabama out of that mix, because you had to take Arizona State and Clemson. So, I think the committee got it right, but any committee you’re a part of Paul, where you’re selecting teams for a championship, whoever is the last one, two or three teams left out always has a beef.”

All told, it’s evident Hunter Yurachek is confident in what the College Football Playoff Selection Committee has achieved, and what the future holds. Whether the SEC deicides to stick with the eight-game schedule versus a nine-game version remains to be seen, but he’s made his feeling clear on the matter.