Brett Yormark drags ACC Commish Jim Phillips into new College Football Playoff proposal after conference realignment creates huge power disparity

Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark has been speaking at the conference's media days, which opened on Tuesday. Yormark mostly spoke about the current state of his conference in his interaction with reporters. But he also talked about the expanding College Football Playoff structure.

Yormark seemed to back the '5-11' model as the best format for the competition. He also showed faith in ACC commissioner Jim Phillips doing the same. College football reporter Pete Thamel reported on Yormak's remarks:

"'I’m doubling down today on 5-11.' He (Yormark) said he expects ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips to do the same. 'I’m confident we’ll get to the right place. I’m confident we’ll get to 5-11.'"

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There is much debate on what a 16-team College Football Playoff will look like, with each conference commissioner having their own idea. Yormark and ACC's Jim Phillips are likely to back the '5-11' model.

This format would be similar to what the 12-team format is currently. The five best conference champions will get a spot in the playoffs, while the 11 other teams will be chosen by the Playoff committee.

The model does not overtly favor any conference, which is a rare sight in the business of college football today. We are seeing the formation of two very influential power conferences in the SEC and Big Ten.

They have all of the strongest, most valuable programs, and a massive gap between these two conferences and the Big 12 and ACC has been created. This gap will only grow in the coming years as these schools have significantly more funds to be able to bring (and then pay) the best players in the country.

A playoff format which awards no automatic berths to any team other than the conference champion, should be seen as the best way to prevent the gap from growing.

The alternative does not help the Big 12

An alternative to the "5+11" model has been proposed and backed by Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti. This model is not focused on a specific number of teams in the playoffs, meaning that it could be applied to a 14 or 16-team playoff model.

However, what makes this model unique is the use of automatic qualifiers for a set number of teams in the Big Ten and SEC. This would mean that the top four teams in both the Big Ten and SEC would make the playoffs, with the other remaining spots going to the other conferences.

This proposal will only make the Big Ten much more powerful and diminish the chances of an ACC or Big 12 team.

About the author

Ben Tredinnick is a journalist who covers college football and college basketball at Sportskeeda who is currently studying for a masters in Data Science. His degree in Psychology has helped him gain an in-depth understanding of the minds of coaches.

Ben has been involved in sports writing since 2022 and covered the NFL previously. His strengths include providing in-depth profiles of athletes and coaches, with a particular focus on development, and looking at which teams could be in the hunt for today's college stars.

Ben enjoys following college sports more than the NBA or NFL because there is more variation in terms of playstyles. The tournaments are often more competitive than the major leagues, and due to the constant turnover of players, there are rarely any "superteams" in college sports.

He prioritizes research, looks at multiple sources and publications to make sure he gets the full picture of the story before writing. He tries not to write from a one-sided perspective to allow the reader to be able to make their mind up on their own.

A Texas Longhorns fan, as well as a massive New York Giants fan, some of his favorite college players of all time are Arch Manning, Tim Tebow and Reggie Bush.

When he is not working, Ben enjoys watching films (especially Godzilla) and spending time with his cat.

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Edited by Satagni Sikder