Greg Sankey leaves SEC Spring Meetings with final message to College Football Playoff committee

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2 days ago

MIRAMAR BEACH, Fla. — As SEC commissioner Greg Sankey arrived for his final press conference at the league's spring meetings, sheets of data were passed around showing one key finding, a finding the conference made clear on the sheets' title: "A Regular Season Gauntlet."
During the SEC Spring Meetings, conversations about College Football Playoff format and about the possible extension of the league's conference schedule from eight to nine games raged on, but no definitive decisions were made.
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The SEC still has no 2026 schedule set. Sankey said he has a "date-ish" in mind to determine the league's 2026 schedule, but that "dates are movable."
In his final message of spring meetings, Sankey preached a desire to understand the CFP's criteria for strength of schedule, showing multiple data points that showcased that the SEC has to navigate a strength of schedule completely different than the Big Ten, the Big 12 and the ACC.
"This thing is not like any other," Sankey said. "So that makes me wonder how do we analyze the strength of schedule? How playing a highly-ranked opponent is not just a game, but it's a game against a highly-ranked opponent, even in a conference setting. I think the number of those games too. Anybody in the football world — so I'm not a football coach, didn't play football — will identify the week after week after week of those high-level games is a really big factor in the team's win and loss records. We're just different in this universe."
Sankey said the SEC Spring Meetings included conversations about several models, including a "5+11" model that would include five automatic bids for conference champions and six at-large bids. According to a report from Yahoo, Big Ten athletic directors were said to not support the model if the SEC were to remain at only eight conference games.
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For Sankey, that's where the strength of schedule criteria for the CFP comes into play.
"I think it suggests the need for consideration, and I do think there is a need for change," Sankey said. "How do you explain some of the decisions that have been made? I'll go back to Georgia a year-and-a-half ago. Georgia was a two-time defending national champion. They lost one game in our championship game against Alabama. Not a lot of noise about them. Being undefeated was never an expectation for being selected into the four-team (CFP). That just isn't perfect criteria. Otherwise, North Dakota State would be in.
"How do you make those decisions? And it's hard. And we trust the committee to do that. And I respect the people in there. This isn't a criticism of the people. This is a wanting to understand the decisions. And we have to have better clarity on the criteria that informs those decisions."
Leaving Miramar Beach, Florida, Sankey said he feels the SEC is closer to what it wants out of the CFP moving forward. Therefore, he feels the SEC has moved closer on a decision to play either eight or nine conference games.
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And as conversations continue, without a CFP format secured in 2026 and without a league schedule set in 2026, Sankey understands the SEC's role.
"We're kind of important," Sankey said. "We've been important in that decision."
Colin Gay covers Alabama football for The Tuscaloosa News, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at [e-mail] or follow him @_ColinGay on X, formerly known as Twitter.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Greg Sankey leaves SEC Spring Meetings with final message to CFP committee