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Mississippi State AD Zac Selmon voices support for conference play-in games for College Football Playoff

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College Football Playoff expansion remains a hot topic of conversation as conference commissioners discuss next steps. One reported idea includes conference play-in games as the SEC and Big Ten seek four bids apiece in a potential 16-team bracket, which is an idea Mississippi State athletics director Zac Selmon supports.

Selmon spoke in favor of the idea of play-in games during an appearance on SiriusXM College Sports Radio. He pointed out the importance of having meaningful games late in the season, especially considering how challenging the SEC schedule can be.

Additionally, Selmon noted the success of play-in games in professional leagues, such as the NBA with its Play-In Tournament. Putting more at stake, he argued, will add more juice to those later matchups.

“There’s been a lot of just intriguing conversations,” Selmon told Peter Burns. “We just had some meetings in Birmingham this week. It’s always great to be with our colleagues. Commissioner [Greg] Sankey’s just a visionary in the industry. I think exciting competition is exciting competition, and I’ve always been a fan for access, but also for the fan bases, more play-ins. You look at what the NBA has done and other leagues – having hope, having excitement late in the season – I love the concepts of just having more opportunities and also having some more things on the line. The level of competition in our league, and you think about the physical toll that games take on somebody’s body.

“Now, the mental toll that this league puts on your body … I think it helps for the student-athlete mindset, too, of having more things to play for late in the season. Coaches are great at motivating and keeping guys connected, but I think having more things like this is a really good concept for the student-athletes. Having more access, more meaningful games, more games with a lot of things on the line, I think it’s a great thing for college football.”

More on the potential 16-team College Football Playoff

Power conference commissioners met Thursday in New York, and future College Football Playoff formats were part of the discussions, Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger reported. A potential 16-team bracket has “growing” Big Ten and SEC support after the in-person meeting, including auto-bids for each conference.

The 16-team field would include four automatic bids for each of the SEC and Big Ten, according to Dellenger. The ACC and Big 12 would get two spots each, while the Group of 6 would get one. There would also be three at-large spots.

In addition, as Dellenger previously reported, “inner-league play-in games” could also be in the cards at the end of the year. That would put the third-place team in a conference against the sixth-place team, as well as the fourth-place team against fifth-place.