If Others Want This 5+11 CFP Format, The SEC And Big Ten Should Welcome This 16-Team Model With Arms Wide Open

DESTIN, Fl - Well you can add another wrinkle to the ongoing conversations surrounding the college football playoff format, as the 5 +11 model is now making its rounds across different conferences, with the SEC and Big 12 currently holding their spring meetings. 

If you weren't already tired of hearing about how these conferences are trying to come to a conclusion about what the playoff will look like come 2026, I'd imagine you're just ready to see some action on the field. In what feels like a never-ending saga concerning which format would satisfy each conference, the last chapter of this book will have fans begging for these commissioners to just make a decision and move forward.

The topic of conversation this week at SEC meetings has flipped between conference scheduling and how many automatic qualifiers each league should get under a new format that many are hoping begins in 2026. Leading up to these meetings, the majority of the talk concerning the playoff had centered around the SEC and Big Ten getting four automatic bids, while the ACC and Big 12 would receive two, with the other two going to Group of Six, along with Notre Dame. 

If the Fighting Irish are good enough, they will obviously be ranked in the top-sixteen. 

One of the most persistent questions has been whether the ACC and Big 12 could convince Greg Sankey and Tony Petitti to agree to an additional bid for those two conferences. Clearly, this has been met with hesitation, as the new format of the day is the 5 +11 model. This would see five automatic bids handed out, with the other eleven spots being at-large bids. 

This would be the best route for the coaches and administrators, who think there should be a fight between the best sixteen teams in college football, as Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin alluded to this week. But, doesn’t it feel as though this talk around the 5+11 model is some sort of trap that the SEC and Big Ten are hoping other conferences walk into? 

You wouldn’t be wrong for thinking that way. While there has been plenty of ‘support’ from coaches across the SEC for the best sixteen teams to get in, it's fascinating to hear some from the Big 12 get behind this 5+11 model, like Utah athletic director Mark Harlan. 

When asked if there would be concern from his conference that this would lead to more SEC teams making the CFP, and potentially fewer Big 12 teams, Harlan implied that they should welcome the challenge. 

"I think the public and we agree that you have to win this thing on the field…Then Big 12, let's win more games. Let's get after it," Harlan told The Athletic. 

But, in the eyes of Greg Sankey, the SEC has done enough in the college football playoff that they do not feel the need for a compromise, which obviously won't sit well with other commissioners, and fans, around the sport. 

"I don't think unanimity is healthy," Greg Sankey said on Wednesday. "We were in a CFP meeting six weeks ago and one of my colleagues from another conference said we need a compromise. A couple of those are allocations for other conferences, and when we did that, we were introducing a political solution. We needed unanimity. 

"I don't need that compromise. The SEC doesn't need that compromise. We've earned everything we've obtained through the college football playoff's agreed upon process."

I'd imagine that did not sit well with commissioners from the ACC and Big 12, but there might not be much they can do about it at the moment. Unfortunately for others, the SEC and Big Ten are running this show, thanks to a vote last year, though it would clearly help if everyone was on-board with a solution. 

Is Everyone Going To Agree With A CFP Format? No, But…

Let's be honest, getting everyone to agree to the same format without hesitation is like agreeing to give the remote to your significant other on a college football Saturday. It's not happening. 

So, this is where a formula like 5 + 11 would actually benefit everyone involved, or that's what the SEC and Big Ten want you to think. Give each conference one automatic bid, and let them fight for the others. 

Isn’t this how college football should actually work? You want the best teams playing for a shot at a national championship, and putting eleven spots up for grabs seems like a logical solution to this mess, or at least one that would lead to harsher repercussions for a late-season loss. 

Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark told The Athletic on Wednesday that he welcomes the formula, while understanding that it might mean they don't get more than more team in the playoff during a particular year. 

"And that's okay. Because we’ve got to earn it on the field," Yormark said. "I tell my room, you're rewarded when you perform at the highest levels."

One of the more positive aspects of this for conferences not named the SEC and Big Ten is that there seems to be plenty of coaches in Destin who are of the mindset that it should be the best sixteen teams in the country. 

Will this model actually make it to the table when commissioners and the college football playoff committee meet in June? That's up for debate. But at least we're discussing different options. If the SEC and Big Ten are the best two conferences in college football, then they should have plenty of spots at the table if the 5+11 format were to be agreed upon. 

Right now, college football has a perception problem. While it would be very hard for the SEC and Big Ten to walk away from four guaranteed spots in the playoff, especially from a financial standpoint, they could easily convince others to agree on a monetary stipulation that would help them rake in additional television revenue if they were to have a rough season. 

Though the chances of the SEC or Big Ten not having four teams worthy of being ranked inside the top-sixteen feel pretty slim. 

It's time to decide on the future. I'm not implying this is the move to make, but it would make for some great storylines during the regular season, which each commissioner keeps saying is so important for the sport. 

If that's truly the case, then go prove it. But, maybe that's exactly what Greg Sankey and Tony Petitti would be banking on.