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Texas coach Steve Sarkisian is pushing for something most coaches haven’t floated publicly: a four-team SEC playoff leading into the SEC Championship Game, with the winner guaranteed a College Football Playoff berth. He made the pitch during SEC meetings in Destin, Florida, and he’s not shy about why.
“I’m okay with 24, I’m okay with 16 and I’m okay with going back to four, but I really don’t care for the number we’re at right now, 12,” Sarkisian told SiriusXM on Wednesday. “We’ve become a playoff or bust fanbase around the country, but there’s not enough spots for us to have that mentality. Twelve is a tough number, especially when it’s really not 12 — Group of Five is getting a spot, Notre Dame’s getting a free spot, so it’s really 10 and then you’ve got AQs for other conferences.”
His argument centers on the SEC’s growth. With the conference now too large for every team to play each other in the regular season, Sarkisian sees a mini-playoff format as a way to restore meaning to the SEC title game, which he’s coached in three times.
“If we had our own mini-playoff that could lead to an SEC Championship Game and that winner is going to the final four and maybe the team they beat is going to the final four,” he said. “We all knew when those four teams played, those were the best four teams.”
Sarkisian has had a front-row seat to how the current format plays out. He’s led Texas to the CFP semifinals twice, including a run to the SEC Championship Game in 2024, the program’s first season in the conference. The Longhorns missed out last season after dropping two conference games.
The Conference Title Game Debate
Not everyone shares his enthusiasm for keeping the SEC Championship Game around.
Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne said last month the game had “run its course,” pointing to last season when the Crimson Tide had just one week to prepare for Oklahoma in the CFP’s opening round after losing to Georgia in Atlanta. Ole Miss and Texas A&M, both of whom missed the title game, got an extra week of rest before the postseason. That gap matters.
Ohio State coach Ryan Day added a similar take for the Big Ten, saying that eliminating the conference title game could actually strengthen rivalry weekend and give the Ohio State-Michigan game more weight as a CFP seeding matchup.
The money, though, is where things get complicated.
Georgia coach Kirby Smart, along with Eli Drinkwitz and new Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea, all voiced support this week for keeping the SEC Championship Game. Smart’s concern isn’t just competitive, it’s financial.
“I don’t think it’s great for the transfer portal to be ending the season that late, and if that championship game is in the way of that, or gets put on the back burner because of that, I think you’d have to accept it,” Smart said. “But I’m really more worried about the financial burden that we’re under right now of paying for all of the athletic department. And when you take that revenue stream out, can we make it work, and is it sustainable to do without it? Would be my biggest concern.”
That revenue question isn’t going away. Conference title games generate significant money for athletic departments already navigating the costs of revenue sharing and roster management. Replacing that income stream with additional playoff rounds isn’t a straight swap.
The American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) voted in April to recommend expanding the CFP to its maximum size of 24 teams, eliminating conference championship games entirely and finishing the season in the second week of January. Under that model, the top eight seeds would receive first-round byes instead of the current top four, with the remaining 16 teams hosting first-round games on campus.
Whether that model actually moves forward is another question. The current 12-team format is locked in through at least the 2026 season, but expansion discussions are picking up speed following the AFCA’s recommendations.
