DESTIN, Fla. — The league that has produced college football’s past six national champions wants to make sure its clout isn’t diminished by a proposed four-team playoff.
SEC football coaches, who convened here Tuesday for the start of the league’s annual spring meetings, came out swinging against recent suggestions from the Big Ten, Pac-12 and ACC that conference champions should be favored over non-champions in the selection of playoff teams.
Such a stipulation would diminish or preclude the possibility of more than one team from a league making the playoffs — anathema to a league that placed two teams, Alabama and LSU, in last season’s BCS title game.
“To me, there’s no question the reason we’re even doing [a four-team playoff] is because the fans ... are interested in seeing the best four teams play,” Alabama coach Nick Saban said. “So now we’re going to mess that up by saying you have to be a conference champion? I think somebody is a little bit self-absorbed and worrying about how it affects them or their conference ... rather than what’s best for college football.”
LSU coach Les Miles, whose team won the SEC championship last season but lost to SEC West runner-up Alabama in the BCS title game, was equally adamant that the playoffs should be open to teams that fail to win their conference.
Those who argue otherwise “want equity, and that’s not necessarily fair,” Miles said. “They want a geographic equity that says, ‘I’ll get a champion from over here. You get a champion from over there. And you get a champion from over there. And let them all play.’
“I think that is not an advantage to the SEC. I think it is a disadvantage.”
If enacted, the playoffs would begin with the 2014 season.
While positions on playoff details continue to evolve, the Big Ten, Pac-12 and ACC recently suggested in various ways that conference champions should get favorable treatment in the team-selection process. One approach would be to strictly limit the field to conference champs. Another approach, proposed by the Big Ten, would ensure that the four highest-ranked conference champs make the playoffs, provided each ranks among the nation’s top six teams overall.
The SEC favors a much simpler approach: Put the top four teams in a playoff, regardless of all other factors.
“Based on our track record, I think everybody in the room would like to rank [teams] 1 through 4 and let the chips fall where they may,” Georgia athletic director Greg McGarity said after a meeting of league ADs.
Florida coach Will Muschamp succinctly explained the SEC’s motivation: “In our league, we might have four of the best teams in the country.”
Like other coaches interviewed Tuesday, Georgia’s Mark Richt said he is opposed to making a conference championship any sort of prerequisite for the playoffs.
“I would say, find a way to decide who are the best four teams in America, seed them 1 vs. 4 and 2 vs. 3, and go play,” Richt said.
Richt suggested that the four teams could be selected and seeded simply by continuing to use the existing BCS standings formula.
Saban agreed, saying: “I wouldn’t be in favor of dismantling the BCS rankings.”
The SEC is a big backer of a four-team playoff, and the league expects to adopt by Friday a formal position on how it should work. SEC commissioner Mike Slive will carry that position to late-June meetings with commissioners and presidents/chancellors from other conferences.
Agreeing with other conferences on a playoff model remains “a challenge,” Slive said, but he’s “hopeful” of an agreement this summer.
Reiterating the view of SEC coaches, Slive said: “I’m in favor of the four best teams in the country playing for the national championship. ... I think last year the two best teams played for the national championship.”
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