CFP board member Mark Keenum not expecting resolution on format by Dec. 1 deadline, reveals setback in process

The College Football Playoff management committee has until Dec. 1 to agree on a new CFP format. On Friday, Mississippi State president Mark Keenum, who serves as chairman on the CFP’s Board of Managers, revealed his and the SEC’s stance on expansion talks.

“I’m not a big fan of automatic qualifiers,” Keenum told ESPN’s Paul Finebaum. “The best teams ought to play in our nation’s national tournament to determine who our national champion in college football is going to be, and not have automatic bids. And, that’s the position of the Southeastern Conference presidents and chancellors, our commissioner, and probably most of the conferences that are part of the CFP, but we’re still negotiating.

“We have to make a decision before the end of this month if we’re going to expand to 16 next year. So we’ve got just a few more weeks, I’ll be honest, I’m not very optimistic that we’ll get to that, but we’ll keep working on it.”

Under the current rules, the five conference champions ranked highest in the CFP rankings receive automatic CFP bids. However, some conferences, especially the Big Ten, are pushing to automatically receive a set number of bids.

For example, the Big Ten proposed the 4-4-2-2-1-1 model. Under this system, the Big Ten and SEC would each automatically receive four bids. The ACC and Big 12 would each receive two. Then, the highest-ranked Group-of-Five champion and an at-large team would round out the bracket.

This system would ensure the SEC and Big Ten rake in more revenue each year from their teams competing deep in the postseason. While Keenum doesn’t agree with the idea of increasing the number of automatic qualifiers, he isn’t opposed to general expansion.

“I want as many young student athletes to have an opportunity to compete,” Mark Keenum said. “It’s so wonderful for the fan bases, for these schools to be able to have their teams participate in the national tournament and have that experience for their fans, for their students, for these student athletes.

“If we can work to expand it to include more schools, I love it. It just energizes college football through the regular season right now. People, all they’re focused on is CFP right now—how exciting that is, as we’re still playing in the regular season. And that’s what our vision was when we went from four teams to 12 teams, and that was just last year.”