While some College Football Playoff proposals would eliminate conference title games altogether, Steve Sarkisian wants to expand the process for crowning a league champion. During SEC meetings in Destin, Florida, the Texas coach proposed a four-team SEC playoff, with the winner essentially guaranteed a CFP berth.
"I'm okay with 24, I'm okay with 16 and I'm okay with going back to four, but I really don't care for the number we're at right now, 12," Sarkisian told SiriusXM on Wednesday. "We've become a playoff or bust fanbase around the country, but there's not enough spots for us to have that mentality. Twelve is a tough number, especially when it's really not 12 -- Group of Five is getting a spot, Notre Dame's getting a free spot, so it's really 10 and then you've got AQs for other conferences.
"My point of going back to four is this -- I'm a big fan and proponent of the SEC Championship Game. I think there's something special about that game, and it means a lot. I've had a chance to coach in it three times. If we went back to four, we could have our own SEC playoff for the SEC Championship Game because now the conference has expanded to where not everybody gets to play each other anymore."
Sarkisian has twice led Texas to the CFP semifinals and guided the Longhorns to the SEC Championship Game during the 2024 season -- their first in the conference -- before missing out last season after two league losses.
"If we had our own mini-playoff that could lead to an SEC Championship Game and that winner is going to the final four and maybe the team they beat is going to the final four," Sarkisian said. "We all knew when those four teams played, those were the best four teams."
Conference title game dilemma
In April, the American Football Coaches Association voted to recommend expanding the CFP to its maximum size, eliminating conference championship games and ending the season during the second week of January.
Many believe that if the playoff expands to 24 teams, the addition of another postseason round -- and 12 more games -- would effectively eliminate conference championship weekend. Under that model, the top eight seeds, instead of the current top four, would receive first-round byes, while the remaining 16 teams would play first-round games on campus sites.
Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne said last month the SEC Championship Game had "run its course," arguing it has outlived its usefulness in the expanded CFP era. Last season, the Crimson Tide had only a one-week break before facing Oklahoma in the opening round of the postseason after losing to Georgia in Atlanta.
Meanwhile, SEC playoff teams like Ole Miss and Texas A&M benefited from missing the title game, gaining an extra week of rest and preparation before the postseason. Ohio State coach Ryan Day said this month that eliminating the Big Ten Championship Game would enhance rivalry weekend and place greater emphasis on the Buckeyes' regular-season showdown with Michigan as a CFP play-in game or seeding determinant.
Conference championship games, however, remain extremely lucrative, as Georgia coach Kirby Smart and others have noted. Eliminating those contests in favor of an earlier start to an expanded playoff would need to make financial sense.
This week, Eli Drinkwitz, Clark Lea and Smart also voiced support for preserving the SEC Championship Game. Smart said the potential loss of revenue is a major concern.
"I don't think it's great for the transfer portal to be ending the season that late, and if that championship game is in the way of that, or gets put on the back burner because of that, I think you'd have to accept it," Smart said. "But I'm really more worried about the financial burden that we're under right now of paying for all of the athletic department. And when you take that revenue stream [from the SEC championship game] out, can we make it work, and that is it sustainable to do without it? Would be my biggest concern."
The 12-team format is locked in through at least the 2026 season, but expansion talks continue to intensify following the AFCA's recommendations.
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