The SEC’s CFP Frustration Is Starting to Feel Like a Warning

SEC’s annual spring meetings continue to churn out headlines.

From Ole Miss coach Pete Golding responding to recent jabs from fellow SEC coaches to Greg Sankey being asked his opinion about every topic imaginable, the week has certainly been eventful.

The biggest headlines, though, are about expanding the College Football Playoff. Does the SEC prefer 16 teams? Twenty four? How many automatic bids? Any automatic bids at all? It is all being discussed even though no decisions were made this week in Destin.

As expected, SEC presidents and chancellors did not vote or take action on any items this week in Destin, including CFP expansion, future self-governance, etc.

Conversations will continue.

— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) May 28, 2026

But that expansion will not happen until 2027. The 2026 season will use the same 12 team format we saw last year.

That makes what happened Tuesday very noteworthy.

CFP selection process faces the music

College Football Playoff officials reportedly gave a presentation to SEC coaches explaining how they made the decisions that shaped last season’s bracket.

According to multiple reports, it did not go well.

Sports Illustrated’s Pat Forde cited four unnamed sources who described the presentation as “ridiculous” and said “people were not happy.” The CFP representatives walked through their process, talked about strength of schedule and other metrics, and explained how they arrived at their decisions last November.

“Per sources in the room, one league coach whose team was in the playoff mix but did not make the field said he felt worse after hearing the presentation than he did when his team was excluded on Selection Sunday,” Forde wrote.

Oh, what a joy it would’ve been to be a fly on the wall in for that presentation.

The core issue is familiar. The SEC believes it is the strongest conference from top to bottom and that losses to SEC opponents don’t deserve to be punished as losses in other leagues are. Playing an SEC schedule is inherently harder than playing a Big 12 schedule.

Twelve different SEC teams had harder schedules last season than the Big 12’s top team in strength of schedule, which tells you plenty about the gap between the leagues.

Forde reports that explanations involving two Big 12 teams, Texas Tech and BYU, were especially frustrating. Coaches also pushed back on how the CFP representatives described penalties for losses.

Texas Tech lost one game last season, to Arizona State, and still made the playoff. The Red Raiders dominated a soft non conference slate and won nine Big 12 games by 22 points or more, which boosted their analytics and metrics enough to earn a first round bye. Oregon then blew them out.

With the SEC moving to a nine game schedule this fall, more losses are almost guaranteed. And based on Tuesday’s meeting, it sounds like the SEC will still be punished for losing to SEC teams.

There is not much the coaches or the conference can do about it.

Or is there?

A rhetorical question: Could the SEC ever break away?

Framing it that way matters, because no one is saying this is happening tomorrow. But the frustration is real enough that the idea is no longer dismissed outright.

It would take someone with enough job security and enough credibility to say it out loud. Nick Saban is no longer around to play that role, but Georgia coach Kirby Smart is.

“I’ve said this for a long time to our president,” Smart said Tuesday. “I’ve been a huge advocate that if we can’t find rules that everybody plays by, then we should play our own. I’m not afraid of that. I’m not afraid to break away and say that our conference is strong enough to go out and play.”

It is a massive idea with consequences too long to list. And yes, it does sound a little like the kid on the playground taking his ball and going home. But Smart’s point reflects a growing feeling inside the league: the SEC does not believe the current system reflects the sport’s reality.

SEC Presidents and Chancellors statement on media rights proposals: pic.twitter.com/eDAlWj2U1Y

— Southeastern Conference (@SEC) May 28, 2026

Georgia president Jere Morehead has already said he would “be ready to vote on creating an SEC mechanism and SEC rules” if there is no federal legislation to rein in what he called the sport’s “anarchy.”

Smart also acknowledged the practical side.

“I mean, if we could actually function, and it financially would make our programs more stable and we could support things financially, I’m talking about all the sports, and do by our own rules, I’d be all for that,” he said.

Georgia coach Kirby Smart wants to protect other sports besides football in today's NIL world of college athletics. pic.twitter.com/JaIj9lIGfw

— Rick Nyman (@RickNymanSport) May 26, 2026

That is the part that makes an actual breakaway unlikely. If this was only college football, then that super league discussed almost a decade ago might already be a thing. Still, the fact that coaches and presidents are even entertaining the idea tells you how strained the relationship has become.

The idea of an SEC breakaway still feels far fetched, but so did NIL collectives, free agency in the portal and a 12 team playoff not long ago. In a sport this unstable, nothing stays off the table for long.