Greg Sankey reveals SEC's stance on College Football Playoff after adopting 9-game schedule

The SEC officially moving to a nine-game schedule provides a singular answer and a lot more questions. Specifically around the College Football Playoff, where the next major decision now revolves around the event’s format. A decision is needed within the coming months and as things stand, not all power conferences agree.

Greg Sankey made sure to state where the SEC stands when appearing on The Paul Finebaum Show. Nothing has changed on his end, wanting the CFP to expand from 12 to 16. Getting clarity on the selection process helped strengthen his belief in the model.

“One thing I want to be clear about is that we have preferred a 16-team format,” Sankey said. “I said that when we were together in Destin, at least at the end of our week in Destin, with the maximum of at-large slots. We think that value, combined with clarity on selection, is important for the Southeastern Conference. That remains. Other ideas that have been talked about, we haven’t taken positions on those. Lot of work to be done around format issues. If we’re at 12 in the future, we’re at 12. But the clarity was a bit of a tipping point.”

Exactly how the 16-team CFP looks turns into a whole different discussion. Sankey and the SEC, alongside leaders inside the ACC and Big 12, will push for the 5+11 model. Tony Petitti’s Big Ten is in favor of using auto-bids for a 4-4-2-2-1 model.

Under the 5+11 format, the five highest-ranked conference champions would be in the field along with 11 at-large teams. The 4-4-2-2-1 model, though, would give four bids each to the Big Ten and SEC. The ACC and Big 12 would get two bids apiece, the Group of Six would get one spot, and three at-large bids would round out the bracket.

On3’s Brett McMurphy reported the Big Ten will not support a 5+11 format unless the SEC opts to adopt a nine-game schedule like itself. Now, the new policy is set to be implemented by the 2026 season. We will have to wait and see where the Big Ten stands moving forward.

Sankey is certain of one thing, no matter which model gets put into place. He wants to make sure 16 teams are included in the College Football Playoff. Between the nine-game schedule and recent criteria update, nothing has changed on his end.

On3’s Alex Byington and Nick Schultz contributed to this report