College football insider reveals SEC presidents getting more involved in CFP expansion
SEC presidents are tired of nothing being done about College Football Playoff expansion, and are readying to be more involved in conversations.
After letting others take the reins, conferences haven’t been able to agree upon moving on from a four-team tournament. During an appearance on The Paul Finebaum Show on SEC Network on Thursday, Ross Dellenger of Sports Illustrated revealed the fascinating news.
“I’ve found it a little odd .. the 16-team Playoff talk. Back at spring meetings — the SEC Spring Meetings in Destin, actually — I had a sit-down with Mark Keenum, the President of Mississippi State, who is the Chairman of the CFP. He told me then .. (a 16-team Playoff model) had been discussed by the Board of Presidents,” stated Dellenger. “They had discussed it a little back in the spring, and the Board of Presidents, Paul — they’re going to be a little bit more involved in this round of negotiations for the CFP expansion.
“I think they see that commissioners failed in coming to an agreement and agreeing. So they’re going to be more involved. There was a 16-team Playoff model that was kind of talked about among the presidents.”
However, don’t get your hopes up for a 16-team model just yet — Dellenger added that he doesn’t have the feelings the move will be popular with SEC presidents.
“I didn’t get the sense from Mark Keenum, I don’t get the sense from a lot of SEC people that they believe that is the right model,” added Dellenger. “I think a lot of them would tell you the ACC, the Big Ten and the Pac-12 — all three conferences that voted against the 12-team model — all had an issue with student-athlete health care, and there being too many games played in a 12-team model. Well, 16 is four more teams, and two more games.
“So, there’s been a little bit of a surprise that out of Big Ten Media Days there’s been this all of a kind of big show made about 16 teams. A lot of head scratching down south, I think.”
Evidently, SEC presidents are getting antsy about College Football Playoff expansion — but don’t expect 16 to be the magic number if Ross Dellenger is right about his intuition.
Kevin Warren pledges softer stance on automatic bids in College Football Playoff expansion
Meanwhile, Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren commented on his future plans about campaigning for automatic bids in College Football Playoff expansion talks during Big Ten Media Days earlier this week.
Warren has previously fought to guarantee automatic bids for champions in each Power 5 conference to have a spot in the College Football Playoff if it expands — something that he appears to be walking back from amid conference realignment.
“Asked Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren if he’d again fight for automatic bids for Power 5 champions in the next round of College Football Playoff expansion talks. ‘I’m going to soften my stance on it,’” said Warren via a Wednesday report from The Athletic.
The new stance provided by Warren comes on the heels of his previous pushback against playoff expansion as recently as February when he voted against expansion. Warren explained at the time that he believed in the idea of expanding the College Football Playoff, however he disagreed with the proposal provided at the time.
“To be very clear, the Big Ten Conference supports expansion of the College Football Playoff system — for our student-athletes, member institutions and fans,” said Warren of his vote earlier this year.
Now, he has provided some insight into what could have been a holdup for him last time the vote occurred. Warren was vocal about his hardline belief that Power 5 conferences would need automatic bids to the College Football Playoff if it was to expand beyond four teams. It’s now possible that the recent acquisition of USC and UCLA by the Big Ten Conference could have softened his stance on the issue.
“I’m going to soften my stance on it,” said Warren via The Athletic. “I just feel like we have to give some credit for conference regular-season success. Now, whatever that looks like, I don’t know.”