Kirby Smart say most SEC coaches favor 5+11 CFP model - ESPN

ATLANTA — Georgia coach Kirby Smart said the SEC coaches haven't reached a consensus in their support for a 16-team playoff model that would include the five highest-ranked conference champions and 11 at-large teams.

But Smart said most SEC coaches favor that format for 2026 because it wouldn't limit their participants like automatic qualifiers.

«I think the best representative model of the best teams is probably the 5-plus-11 model, but I don't think that's a consensus in the SEC,» Smart told ESPN at SEC media days Tuesday. "… There's been a major strain put on the colleges that are borderline, bubble. These coaches just want an opportunity to get in that because the bigger the playoffs have gotten, it's minimized the bowls.

«You're sitting at a mid-tier SEC program, and you need to have a reason for your fan base to be excited. You need an opportunity for your fan base to think they've got a chance, and that's hard in some of the models.»

The SEC coaches began to lean towards the 5+11 model at their spring meetings in Destin, Fla., after seeing graphs and elements from a study of the playoff that simulated what would have happened in various models. The Big Ten has supported a format that includes guaranteed spots for conferences, with the most going to the SEC and Big Ten, but Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin said metrics should help determine the 16 best teams — and there shouldn't be any guarantees for conference champions.

«I had a coach that played Clemson last year say, 'Put Clemson on my schedule every week compared to playing SEC teams,'» Kiffin said of the defending ACC champs. «But there might be years that also the ACC really does have real teams. It might change every year, but not where people are just in