CFP 5+11 model gaining traction as leaders eye next steps - ESPN

DESTIN, Fla. — A 16-team College Football Playoff model featuring the top five conference champions and 11 at-large teams is gaining traction following SEC spring meetings this week, but the next step in playoff expansion for 2026 and beyond will depend on how quickly the sport's leaders can make a flurry of decisions.

A critical component is the SEC's choice between staying at eight league games or moving to nine, a topic ACC sources say could be revisited in their league after years of being dormant if prompted by playoff expansion. The lynchpin to those scheduling decisions is one thing every conference seems to agree on: the need for clarity about how the CFP selection committee ranks its teams, starting with how strength of schedule is determined and applied.

«I do think there's a need for change,» SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said of the ranking protocol Thursday at the conclusion of his league's spring meetings. "… How do you make those decisions? It's hard, and we trust the committee to do that, and I respect the people in there, so this isn't a criticism of the people. This is wanting to understand the decisions. We have to have better clarity on the criteria that inform those decisions."

Currently, strength of schedule is one of several factors not weighed in the committee's ambiguous protocol — language the FBS commissioners wrote at the inception of the four-team playoff in 2014. There's a sense among some athletic directors in both the SEC and ACC that moving to nine conference games is feasible — if the committee doesn't penalize teams for losing two or three games against strong opponents.

Some SEC athletic directors stressed this week that they would only favor a nine-game league schedule if the