Greg Saney prefers 9-game sec time plan, but is concerned about CFP offers

The SEC Commissioner Greg Saney confirmed on Monday that he would go to a football plan of nine games for his conference. This explanation, the most distant Saney, seemed to go publicly, came with one restriction: As long as it does not hurt that the SEC teams tried to get into the playoffs of college football.

The SEC has had over nine games for several years, especially in the run -up to Oklahoma and Texas, who followed the conference that took place last season. But financial and competitive concerns at least temporarily led to the conference in eight games.

Behind the scenes, Saney expressed support for the visit of nine games. While he confirmed this on Monday during a appearance in the SEC network, Saney said it with concerns that the CFP selection committee prioritized the losses last year when the SEC only made three teams in the 12 team team.

“One of the problems in the room for our athletics directors is what seemed to be most important, the number on the right, the number of losses. And how do we understand what this means for our schedule? “Sagey said during his appearance in the Paulinbaum show. “I am one who said that I really think we should try to move towards a conference plan with nine games. I think that can be positive for many reasons. They observe the interest in conference games.

“But not if we lead to losing opportunities.”

Sankey added that he generally preferred games of “great interest” and disappointed in Nebraska and recently canceled a series with Tennessee and Wake Forest that has canceled a future game with Ole Miss.

“I would like to see how we play more of these top -class games. Both within the conference and outside the conference, ”said Saney. “However, we have to recognize that the CFP selection process is an important factor or decision -making factor that contributes to the possible results, whether it is no conference games or whether it is the number of games that are played in conferences.”

Many within the conference believe that the decision is connected to whether the Sec and Big Ten will receive guaranteed offers in a new CFP format. The conferences have discussed a 14-team format in which each conference receives four guaranteed bids. The idea received a lot of setback.

Sankey confirmed that a discussion has taken place and that it described “allocations” and not guaranteed offers. He discussed it again on Monday evening in the context of the CFP selection committee, also recognizing criticism and pointing out that no decision should be made soon.

“Have our athletics directors talk about further allegations, regardless of whether they want to name these automatic commandments? Sure, ”said Saney. “You also talked about ideas to evaluate the strength of the schedule and try to better understand how this analysis is carried out.

“I think we should probably slow down a bit when it comes to conclusions, because in a short time there is a lot to do to do a lot, be it our planning decisions or discussions about the future college football playoff.”

The decision of the SEC time plan threatens, defined without format for 2026 and beyond. The financial part of the decision concerns ESPN and whether it pays more for an additional conference game. The competition in the past was that teams wanted enough victories to become a bowel authorization. This meant reserved for schools such as Kentucky and Mississippi State.

Now the CFP selection criteria could be even greater, with larger schools such as Alabama and Georgia who dealt with nine games and had a little concern.

In any case, a decision must be made in the coming months. One day Saney alluded to events when he turned a coin to decide on the SEC women -basketball tournament.

“Maybe we'll turn a coin over eight or nine,” said Saney with a smile. “We have some practice.”

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(Photo: Todd Kirkland / Getty Images)