Big Ten athletic directors on Wednesday discussed the potential College Football Playoff model that would include five automatic bids for conference champions and 11 at-large bids, but many in the group said they would not support such a model if the SEC remains at eight conference games, sources told Yahoo Sports.
The SEC has previously mulled moving to a nine-game conference schedule; the Big Ten has played nine conference games since the 2017 season. The discussions are most notable because the Big Ten and SEC hold authority over any future playoff format, according to a memorandum of understanding all conferences signed last spring.
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The Big 12, in the midst of its own spring meetings in Orlando, showed support for the “5+11” model. The ACC supports that format as well. As Yahoo Sports reported last week, the ACC and Big 12 proposed that model, as well as a “4-4-3-3-1+1” format, to the Big Ten and SEC earlier in May. The latter model received little support from administrative groups in the Big Ten and SEC, according to those with knowledge of the talks.
The “5+11” model and a previous “4-4-2-2-1+3” are the formats under the most consideration. The “4-4-2-2-1+3” format grants the SEC and Big Ten four automatic qualifiers each, as well as two each to the Big 12 and ACC. Then one bid would go to the highest-ranked Group of Six conference champion and there would be three at-large selections — one of those contractually designated for Notre Dame if the Irish finish inside the top 16 of the rankings.
Pushback from SEC coaches has sparked more discussion from many SEC athletic directors who favor the “4-4-2-2-1+3” model.
SEC presidents are meeting on Wednesday evening in Destin, Florida, during the conference’s annual spring meetings. A decision on the future CFP format, or perhaps even a consensus, is not expected this week. A decision or vote on 8 vs. 9 SEC games is also not expected.
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