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Since the College Football Playoff came into existence, the sport's powerbrokers have seemingly been trying to change it, and Greg Sankey, the outspoken SEC commissioner, is among the loudest critics when it comes to the current playoff system.
Since his league sent three teams, but not Alabama, into the first 12-team playoff, Sankey has been on a mission to shake up the format. And he may do so in a big way very soon.
“They talked about — I'll call it a 5+11 model — and our own ability to earn those berths,” Sankey, via ESPN “… At the coaching level, the question is, why wouldn't that be fine? Why wouldn't we do that? We talked about 16 with them. So, good conversation, not a destination, but the first time I've had the ability to go really in depth with ideas with them.”
The CFP was first introduced back in 2014 with a four-team format, which immediately proved problematic. At the time, there were five ‘power' conferences — the Big Ten, SEC, ACC, Pac-12, and Big 12 — which meant that regardless of what happened in the regular season, at least one of those conferences' champions would be left out of the final four and potentially more since the CFP was not required to select conference champions at all.
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The Big 12 was the first to feel the sting of the CFP selection committee, which lifted eventual national champion Ohio State above co-Big 12 champs Baylor and TCU and into the final spot of the inaugural playoff.
Although most subsequent years have been far less contentious, last season may have been the most controversial. As part of an expansion from four teams to 12, the CFP gave the four highest-ranking conference champions first-round byes. A solid idea in theory, just like in 2014, immediately proved problematic.
In a season filled with upsets, many of the presumed conference champions faltered at various points in the year, opening the proverbial door for the likes of Boise State and Arizona State to grab a few of the coveted first-round byes. While it did not seem to matter much, and some even argued the byes were detrimental as each of the four teams (Boise State, Arizona State, Georgia, and Oregon) lost their CFP quarterfinal matchups, the complaints did not stop, even after the CFP announced that the byes would change starting with this season.
Now, there appears to be momentum forming for the 5+11 system, which would expand the CFP to 16 teams and guarantee the five highest-ranked conference champions a spot in the CFP. The remaining 11 spots would be filled by at-large teams, several of whom would certainly be from the SEC and Big Ten.
