SEC commissioner Greg Sankey has been front and center in the conversation about changes to the college football playoff format and seeding. While the CFP approved the change to a straight seeding model for next season, there is still a desire from the SEC to improve the playoff format further.

The SEC appeared aligned on this idea and would like their strength of schedule considered when the selection committee chooses which non-champions make the college football playoff. There have even been discussions about the possibility of four automatic qualifiers for each of the Big Ten and SEC in an expanded 16-team playoff model.

While the SEC and Big Ten would both benefit from these changes, Greg Sankey gets much more negative attention than Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti. On Thursday, ESPN writer Adam Rittenberg tweeted about the differences in SEC and Big Ten media availabilities after spring meetings.

"Worth saying: No league dominates the media discussion like the SEC. A whole week of media at the spring meetings, while Big Ten did none at its meetings last week. Smart on the SEC's part, especially coming off of a season where the league was objectively a bit down."

On3 insider Andy Staples responded on Friday morning, saying that Tony Petitti should not be letting Greg Sankey get all the heat as the villain in the CFP discussion.

"Is it in this case, though? Greg Sankey gets painted as the villain while Tony Petitti — who wants basically the same things — uses Sankey as a meat shield. If I were Sankey, I’d be making a call and saying "Listen bro, you need to take a little of this heat.""

Commissioner Greg Sankey speaks out about the SEC's strength of schedule

The SEC is viewed as one of the two best conferences in college football, alongside the Big Ten. As a result, teams in the SEC have tougher schedules than teams in the Big 12, ACC, or other conferences. In an article released on Thursday, The Athletic's Seth Emerson quoted Greg Sankey saying:

"The strength of our conference and how that’s evaluated is really something we want to be a priority. I think that’s important for us. How will a 9-3 SEC team be evaluated against others who may have one or two losses? The rigor of this schedule is unique, and it stands alone by comparison. How is that best respected in this national evaluation system?"

The SEC had three teams qualify for the college football playoff this past season: Texas, Georgia and Tennessee.

Edited by Alexander O'Reilly

Adblock test (Why?)