SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey “made clear he did not ‘anticipate any decisions on the College Football Playoff’” at the conference’s annual meetings this week, noting that there is still time ahead of the Dec. 1 deadline, according to Pete Thamel of ESPN.com. The Big Ten’s coaches and ADs “put up a united front in support of expanding” the CFP to 24 teams last week at the conference’s meetings in California. However, Sankey acknowledged that the SEC will “not have the same unanimity.” He also is “not concerned that the three other power conference commissioners have come out in favor of doubling the size of the CFP.” Sankey acknowledged that there are “different factions in his league on the decision to expand to 24 teams and hinted that there could be varied opinions -- different from the Big Ten’s unified front -- that come out of the SEC meeting this week.” Thamel noted with the SEC and Big Ten “essentially having creative control of the CFP,” the Big Ten has “made clear its preferences.” Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti has said that the “only options his league is considering are either staying at 12 or growing to 24.” When Sankey was asked about the SEC’s comfort staying at 12, he noted that there is “potential for division.” He added that there “weren’t any unanimous votes the last time the CFP expanded from four to 12.” Sankey: “We never had a unanimous vote. I don’t think you’d have a unanimous vote right now” (ESPN.com, 5/25).
OVERSATURATED PRODUCT: In Houston, Kirk Bohls wrote more than anything, Sankey “worries that doubling the number of teams just two years into a sample size of 12 teams threatens to water down the product.” Sankey said that he ‘was ‘surprised’ to hear" Petitti say his league “hasn’t even discussed the possibility of 16 teams -- the SEC’s preference -- especially because he said it was the Big Ten first proposed that number” (HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 5/25). Sankey on potentially lengthening college football’s playoff with a move to 24 said that “football is not an eight-week tournament sport.” USA TODAY’s Blake Toppmeyer wrote that is a “shot across the bow of a 24-team playoff, which would expand an already lengthy playoff to five rounds.” Sankey also “reaffirmed his support for continuing to play the SEC Championship Game.” Ideas for a 24-team playoff generally include “getting rid of conference championships.” Sankey said that he is “‘pretty committed’ to playing a conference championship game.” He added that the game is under contract (USA TODAY, 5/25).
NUMBER GAME: Toppmeyer is a separate piece wrote the Big Ten “holds the cards, and it’s showing the SEC its hand.” The numbers “are 12 or 24.” If the SEC wants to expand the CFP, “then the number is 24, a number set by Petitti.” Or, the playoff can stay at 12 teams, a format the Big Ten has “dominated in its brief existence.” Petitti’s “hardball stance amounts to a move ripped from the Greg Sankey playbook.” Toppmeyer: “So much for the SEC-B1G buddy group the conferences announced two years ago, in a pledge to team up to solve problems together” (USA TODAY, 5/22).
DON’T RUSH: In Utah, Dick Harmon wrote the 12-team setup is relatively new and “mostly delivering the goods.” Rushing to a 24-team setup “feels like fixing a leak by flooding the basement.” It is the “have-nots and coaches chasing access and cash versus the SEC guarding quality like a dragon on its hoard.” In the end, the “magic of college football has always been those crisp autumn Saturdays when one loss could bury you and one upset could make a legend.” Harmon: “If you chase the dollars too hard, you risk turning this mess into just another pro league with better tailgates. Administrators, choose wisely. Don’t let the soul of the game end up like so many old mascots -- stuffed, mounted and forgotten in the rush for more” (DESERET NEWS, 5/23).
GIVE IT A CHANCE: In San Diego, Nick Canepa wrote a move to 24 “can help” schools like San Diego State. If there is “money to get by adding more football teams to the mix,” then SDSU and others in the same position “should at least have a chance.” The 24-team CFP “deserves a chance” (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 5/23).
