The college football world is one year removed from the expanded 12-team College Football Playoff format. While some thought this new format would solve the sport's problems, it ultimately created more issues that are more challenging to solve. And most of those problems have surrounded which teams deserve to make it into the playoff and if certain conferences deserve more bids than others.
The SEC and Big Ten are the leaders in this discussion and for good reason because these two conferences are far superior than the rest. So they rightfully deserve more spots than every other conference, but what is the best way to accomplish that while still being fair to everyone else?
Why would the SEC Championship game go away?
One compaint from the expanded CFP format is that team's have to play too many games. No one had to play 17 games this season, but the potential is there if a team plays (and loses) their conference championship game, receives an at-large bid, then plays four games en route to a National Championship. Fans may love seeing their favorite team play that many games, but in reality it is far too many.
So eliminating the SEC Championship game could solve that problem, especially if the idea of a 16-team playoff ends up being approved. This doesn't mean that an SEC champion wouldn't be crowned, but the conference would name a champion based solely on the regular season. And if that is the case, the SEC likely would move to a 9-game conference season like the Big Ten, which in all honesty is something the conference should have already done by now.
Potential new Playoff formats
One playoff format that many believe will come into place is a 14-team playoff. And with this expansion the SEC and Big Ten want to guarantee as many spots for their teams as possible. One model that was suggested was the 3-3-2-2-1+3 which would give the SEC and BIg Ten three spots, the ACC and Big 12 two spots, the highest group of five champion one spot and three at-large bids.
That format has lost steam however, but the new 4-4-2-2-1+1 format is picking up momentum which would guarantee four spots for the SEC and Big Ten. This would be good news for teams at the top of the SEC like Georgia because that almost guarantees they make the CFP every year.
How could conferences determine who gets these spots?
The final question that needs to be answered is how these spots would be determined. The SEC could just go with the four highest ranked teams in the College Football Playoff rankings, but many fans have lost trust in the committee after this past season. So the SEC could leave that decision up to them and decide for themselves who gets their four spots.
The SEC would have to get creative, but they could take inspiration from what the ACC is discussing. The ACC has discussed a three team conference playoff format that would see their No. 1 regular season team automatically qualify for the CFP and the No. 2 and No. 3 teams battling it out for the final spot. They also have debated doing a four team ACC playoff where the top four teams in the conference battle it out for the conference championship and the two CFP spots.
With the SEC getting four teams in the playoff in this scenario, these ideas may not work for them. But this could spark some inspiration to get innovative and create a unique tournament style to determine who wins the SEC and makes the CFP. No one can deny how electric those games would be and everyone would also love to let the teams decide who makes it into the CFP instead of letting random committee members decide everyone's fate.