Mississippi State president Mark Keenum, the chair of the College Football Playoff board of managers, told ESPN’s Paul Finebaum on Friday that the SEC would prefer to “not have automatic bids” in future iterations of the playoff.
Keenum’s comments came just weeks before the CFP’s Dec. 1 deadline to determine whether there will be a format change for 2026 and beyond.
“I’m not a big fan of automatic qualifiers,” Keenum said on “The Paul Finebaum Show,” which was live from Mississippi State ahead of Saturday’s game against Georgia. “I think the best teams ought to play in our nation’s national tournament to determine who our national champion in college football is going to be and not have automatic bids. That’s the position of the Southeastern Conference — presidents and chancellors, our commissioner, and probably most of the conferences that are part of the CFP.”
If the playoff is going to expand beyond 12 teams, the Big Ten and SEC will have to agree on the format because they were granted the bulk of control over it during the previous contract negotiation. Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti and SEC commissioner Greg Sankey haven’t reached consensus on a model. Following SEC spring meetings in May, a 16-team model that would feature the top five conference champions and 11-at-large teams gained support from every FBS conference except the Big Ten, which has been steadfast in its support of automatic qualifiers.
In August, ESPN reported the Big Ten’s interest in an expanded field that could include 24 or 28 teams and would eliminate conference championship games. That model could include seven guaranteed spots for both the Big Ten and SEC; five each for the ACC and Big 12; two bids for leagues outside the Power 4; and two at-large teams.
Multiple sources within the CFP have been skeptical for months that Sankey and Petitti would agree on a format — which means the most likely outcome would be for the current, 12-team format to remain in place for at least another season.
“We’re still negotiating,” Keenum told Finebaum. “We have to make a decision before the end of this month if we’re going to expand to 16 next year. … I’ll be honest, I’m not very optimistic that we’ll get to that, but we’ll keep working on it.”
