ESPN analyst challenges SEC to play nine-game conference schedule if 'It Just Means More'

As the conference schedule debate continues, ESPN analyst Sam Acho challenged the SEC to increase to nine league games. He invoked the league’s moniker, “It Just Means More,” to make his point.

Acho pointed out the impact a nine-game SEC schedule could have on the College Football Playoff discussion. That’s where the debate takes a turn. On3’s Brett McMurphy previously reported the Big Ten will not support a 5-plus-11 CFP model – the five highest-ranked conference champions and 11 at-large bids – if the SEC stays at eight games.

By going to nine games, Acho argued the SEC could increase its chances of getting more teams in the bracket under that format. he also disagreed with the Big Ten’s stance regarding automatic qualifiers for the CFP.

“People say in the SEC that, ‘It just means more,'” Acho said Friday on College Football Live. “If it really does just mean more and teams are so much better, then maybe the SEC should add a ninth conference game. That would increase the strength of schedule, if the SEC is that much stronger than every other conference. And that would likely increase the number of Playoff teams that the SEC does get. So I know people in the SEC are having the conversations of, ‘Should we go from eight to nine?’ That piece is, okay, maybe go to nine, if it means more.

“Now, from the Big Ten perspective, it’s almost like, ‘We should automatically have all these qualifiers because we have nine games.’ I don’t agree with that sentiment either. You can look at some of those games that are in that nine-game schedule and say, ‘Hey man, these aren’t as tough as some other conferences.’ So for me, [the] SEC – if it really does mean more – go up to a ninth game, and the Big Ten, I don’t think should be complaining because I don’t really believe it’s apples to oranges. I think they’re a different kind of comparison.”

The SEC’s schedule debate came back up during the league’s spring meetings in Destin earlier this year, but no decisions were made. Commissioner Greg Sankey then discussed the issue further at the conference’s media days in Atlanta last week and made his stance clear he’d prefer a nine-game schedule.

Coaches, however, have been striking a different tone. Lane Kiffin cited the strength of the SEC from top to bottom in defense of the eight-game slate. Mark Stoops also pointed out it would guarantee half the conference another loss, among other issues.