ATLANTA — Georgia coach Kirby Sensible stated the SEC coaches have not reached a consensus of their assist for a 16-team playoff mannequin that would come with the 5 highest-ranked convention champions and 11 at-large groups.
However Sensible stated most SEC coaches favor that format for 2026 as a result of it would not restrict their individuals like automated qualifiers.
“I feel one of the best consultant mannequin of one of the best groups might be the 5-plus-11 mannequin, however I do not suppose that is a consensus within the SEC,” Sensible instructed ESPN at SEC media days Tuesday. “… There’s been a serious pressure placed on the universities which can be borderline, bubble. These coaches simply need a chance to get in that as a result of the larger the playoffs have gotten, it is minimized the bowls.
“You are sitting at a midtier SEC program, and it’s essential have a purpose to your fan base to be excited. You want a chance to your fan base to suppose they have an opportunity, and that is exhausting in a number of the fashions.”
The SEC coaches started to lean towards the 5+11 mannequin at their spring conferences in Destin, Florida, after seeing graphs and components from a research of the playoff that simulated what would have occurred in numerous fashions. The Large Ten has supported a format that features assured spots for conferences, with essentially the most going to the SEC and Large Ten, however Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin stated metrics ought to assist decide the 16 finest groups — and there should not be any ensures for convention champions.
“I had a coach that performed Clemson final 12 months say, ‘Put Clemson on my schedule each week in comparison with enjoying SEC groups,'” Kiffin stated of the defending ACC champs. “However there is likely to be years that additionally the ACC actually does have actual groups. It’d change yearly, however not the place individuals are simply in as a result of [they win the conference championship] and even worse, you may have a very good report within the convention, you are the second workforce within the convention. You did not win the championship, however you solely misplaced one or two video games, however you did not play anyone.”
Kiffin stated the 13-member choice committee ought to comprised “educated media folks” who watch numerous soccer — not folks with affiliations to any colleges, as is at the moment the case with sitting athletic administrators who’re recused from voting for his or her colleges and go away the room throughout these discussions.
“What, are you gonna put Robert Kraft in to resolve whether or not the Dolphins get in?” Kiffin stated. “An AD of a college? Like, what?”
Because the FBS convention commissioners proceed to debate the format for 2026 and past, their Dec. 1 deadline looms. South Carolina coach Shane Beamer stated the assembly in Destin was when the coaches realized, “Let’s not simply cap ourselves at 4 and hope for one of the best.”
“There’s years that the SEC legitimately might have gotten perhaps seven groups within the playoff sure years, if it was 5 automatics after which 11 of one of the best,” Beamer stated. “… It’d imply that there is not 4 SEC groups or three SEC groups, nevertheless it additionally would possibly beat that there are seven or eight SEC groups one 12 months.”
SEC commissioner Greg Sankey stated Monday that the Large Ten has a “completely different view” of what the playoff needs to be and that that might result in the sphere remaining at 12. A number of sources within the Large Ten have stated they will not think about a 5+11 mannequin until the SEC and ACC transfer to a nine-game league schedule.
Sensible stated that to go to 9 league video games, he wants assurance the CFP choice committee is not choosing groups “primarily based on the loss column alone.”
“I do not know the way that may ever be honest,” he stated. “It’s what it’s: Two conferences are stronger than others, and when you do not agree with that, you then most likely simply do not know school soccer. And for us to say that each loss is equal, I do not know that the folks in that room agree with that. I like the thought of a nine-game schedule. I feel it takes us out of scheduling points. It performs a very sturdy convention schedule, however not on the expense of costing us alternatives that our fan bases need within the CFP.”