SEC commissioner Greg Sankey minces no words as he discusses automatic bids in CFP

The CFP format for the 2026 season and beyond is still being discussed, and SEC commissioner Greg Sankey gave an honest assessment of what he would prefer to see.

On Monday, Sankey discussed on "The Dan Patrick Show" via X that he would prefer a format with no automatic qualifiers and just having the top 16 teams in the ranking make the playoffs.

"I'd give no allocations. This whole 5+7 thing that exist now, I'd just make it the 12 best teams, and I was clear on that. Now, when you get into rooms, you make political compromises"

From Sankey's viewpoint, it makes sense to ask for the top-ranked teams to make the CFP. The SEC is one of the deepest conferences in the nation, meaning they would likely have the most invites if that format became available.

That is one of the reasons the conference is suddenly backing the 5+11 format. That model would allow the SEC to potentially get more teams in the CFP than the four automatic qualifiers from the original SEC-Big Ten proposal.

Taking last season as an example, Greg Sankey's SEC had six teams among the top 16 ranked teams in the nation. No other conference had more than four.

Currently, there are two main format proposals gaining traction. One that would have the Big Ten and SEC with four automatic qualifiers, two for the ACC and Big 12, another one for the top group of 5 conference champions and their at-large teams, with Notre Dame getting one of those if they are eligible.

The other is having an AQ for the SEC, Big Ten, ACC and Big 12 conference champions, along with the highest ranked group of 5 conference champions. The other 11 spots would be determined by ranking.

Greg Sankey questions the current selection process

The SEC commissioner took one more shot at the CFP selection committee on the "Dan Patrick Show". Greg Sankey questioned whether the process employed to select these teams is correct now, after realignment and playoff expansion.

"We never got back to the essence of decision making, which is how are teams selected," Sankey said. "As everyone relocated over the last four or five years, do the analysis that existed and worked for the four-team playoff in 2014 still have the same relevance. We're behind that curve in my opinion. That's why other ideas are introduced"

Without openly complaining about last season's outcome, Sankey once again put pressure on the process for picking the CFP qualifiers, claiming it has to be refined.

Greg Sankey and most of the SEC backers have questioned why SMU was selected over Alabama last season (even after the Crimson Tide lost to a depleted Michigan squad in the ReliaQuest Bowl). One of the complaints is that the committee doesn't consider the strength of schedule or strength of record.