Brett Yormark on proposed College Football Playoff model: 'I'm not surprised SEC coaches like it'

Amid all the discussion about automatic qualifiers in the next iteration of the College Football Playoff, the most popular proposal making the rounds at SEC Spring Meetings this week is a “5+11” model that allows for 11 at-large bids in a new 16-team format.

Even Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark is behind that particular proposal.

“It has always been our first choice,” Yormark told ESPN insider Heather Dinich on Wednesday. “It’s fair and rewards on field performance. I’m not surprised SEC coaches like it.”

Late Tuesday, following the first day of the 2025 SEC Spring Meetings from the Sandestin Hilton in Destin, Fla., SEC commissioner Greg Sankey revealed SEC football coaches expressed interest in the proposed “5+11” model that would include 11 at-large bids along with the Power Four champions and the highest-ranked Group of Six winner.

“They talked about — I’ll call it a 5+11 model — and our own ability to earn those berths,” Sankey said Tuesday evening, according to ESPN. “… At the coaching level, the question is, why wouldn’t that be fine? Why wouldn’t we do that? We talked about 16 with them. So, good conversation, not a destination, but the first time I’ve had the ability to go really in depth with ideas with them.”

The College Football Playoff committee, which is made up of the FBS commissioners and Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua, must decide on a future format for 2026 and beyond by Dec. 1. While nothing is expeted to be finalized this week, each of the Power Four conferences are expected to coalesce around a single proposal during their respective Spring meetings this week. The Big Ten has already backed the “4+4+2+2+1” 16-team format that awards four automatic bids apiece to the Big Ten and SEC, two bids apiece for the ACC and Big 12, and one bid for the highest-ranked Group of Six along with three at-large bids.

Greg Sankey explains why SEC is not in favor of at-large only College Football Playoff field

Now, after previously walking in lockstep with the Big Ten, SEC football coaches’ interest in the 11 at-large model would amount to a serious pivot for the league. Of course, not everyone under the SEC umbrella is totally on board with that proposal.

Sankey explained the league’s potential opposition to the heavy at-large proposal, citing the interest that conference play-in games could create with more SEC teams potentially in the mix.

“In our own room, I’ve had athletic directors tell me directly that we’ve given too much away to arrive at these political compromises. That we moved teams from outside the 12 in, and we’ve spoken about that before. How many of those compromises does it take?” Sankey said Monday evening from the Sandestin Hilton. “… I think the word ‘hope’ is at the center too. How do you bring people into the conversation late in the season that’s changing environments. So the idea of could you have play-in type games continues to populate itself before you’re in the CFP selection. That’s about building interest and giving hope. Whether that’s the ultimate destination, we’ll see. But, to your question, … why do people think about it, even if it costs us something? You could have more teams perhaps involved late in the season through that model.”