These last few days, much has been made about what a 16-team College Football Playoff would look like and what the power conferences want to do. The Big Ten wants a 4-4-2-2-1-3 format with each conference guaranteeing a certain number of teams. The other format gaining traction recently is a 5+11 format for every conference champion, the highest-ranked Group of Six Champion, and then 11 at-large teams.
The Big Ten wants the guaranteed format, while the Big 12 and ACC want the format with conference champions only being guaranteed. The SEC seems to be caught in the middle. The ACC has been quieter, but the Big 12 wants the SEC and Big Ten to be more responsible in how they lead.
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One of the more savvy commissioners in college sports, Brett Yormark, doubled down on the war of words in the media and said the entire Big 12 supports the 5+11 model for the College Football Playoff. He said, “It is fair, and it rewards performance.”
Yormark took to the media to voice his opinion and the opinion of the Big 12 as a whole. The Big 12 hosts spring meetings in Orlando, Florida, while the SEC is in Destin, Florida, so all this is coming out now.
Yormark elaborated on his stance during a Thursday hit on ESPN’s SportsCenter when he said, “It’s fair, it’s what our fans want. They don’t want an invitational. They want a true Playoff system. We have that now. I thought last year going to a 12-team format was fantastic. It played out exactly how people had hoped. It was very dramatic. It created a lot of interest. Going to 16 does more of that. But we need to take these multiple AQs out of the conversation, and I think 5+11 does that. And that’s our preference.”
The key is what the SEC prefers because the split seems to come down to what the athletic directors and administrators want compared to what the coaches want. The coaches favor the 5+11 model and approach it more competitively. That format seems to be gaining more traction, especially recently.
The Big Ten favors the 4-4-2-2-1-3 model, but they would only go to the 5+11 model if the SEC expands their schedule to nine games, because they don’t like how the SEC would be at eight games and keep one of their pushover games.
The shift to the 5+11 model seems to be gaining steam for the College Football Playoff, and Brett Yormark is the most outspoken commissioner leading that charge.
Jake Faigus graduated from the University of Arizona in 2022 and has had stops at Catena Media, Playmaker, DraftKings, USA Today, Spike Up, and Spotlight Sports Group. He also writes for Sporting News and works at iHeartMedia in Phoenix.
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