Finally, SEC commissioner Mike Slive has some support in the playoff selection format. Whether that support is eventually echoed by the rest of college football’s power brokers remains to be seen.
Appearing at his first Big 12 spring meetings, West Virginia athletic director Oliver Luck said he favors a playoff that places the four best teams in the field... regardless of whether they won their conference or not.
“In my mind, I think the four best teams have to be the four best teams,” Luck said. “That’s the American way.”
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Luck’s stance is contrary to what many of the current “Big 6" conferences have voiced, although the Big 12 has come out in favor of the “four highest ranked teams” model. Officially, the ACC, Big Ten, Big East and Pac-12 have cast their vote for a conference champions-only model; the Big 12 and SEC for the “four best teams” model. With the last BCS championship game consisting of two SEC schools, it should be no surprise that the immediate reaction from other conferences would be to level the playing field as much as possible.
But don’t dismiss some variation of the idea proposed by Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany earlier this month that mixes conference champs and at least one at-large bid. That compromise could very well suit Slive just fine and has already been endorsed by the other most powerful commissioner in college athletics.