Andy & Ari On3 - Greg Sankey SOUNDS OFF on the CFP from Destin

Episode Date: May 27, 2025

While the College Football Playoff just decided to go to straight seeding for the upcoming season, the new format is already in discussion. Down in Destin, the SEC Spring Meetings are taking place and Greg Sankey had the microphone on Monday night. Andy & Ari have some thoughts on the commissioner's comments. (0:00-3:53) Intro(3:54-14:25) The 16 Team CFP Format(14:26-30:21) Andy's question to Greg Sankey(30:22-44:37) Greg Sankey asserts the SEC's Dominance(44:38-56:28) Andy's 2025 CFP Projection(56:29-58:20) Conclusion: Experiences in Destin Watch our show LIVE, M-F at 9:30 am et! https://www.youtube.com/@On3sports Hosts: Andy Staples, Ari WassermanProducer: River Bailey Interested in partnering with the show? Email [e-mail]  

I'm on site meetings and already haven't even actually started yet and already Commissioner Greg Sankey's breathing fire. Yeah, while you were working on Monday evening, I was in playoff debates with people on the internet. So just in case I don't know what you were filing a column, I don't know what that column is about. We're going to have to walk through that right now. But I was arguing with people about Alabama's strength of schedule while you were filing a column. I don't know what that column is about. We're going to have to walk through that right now. But I was arguing with people about Alabama's strength of schedule while you were writing. So that's where we're at right now.

Arguing that it was good, bad, or otherwise. Just basically the same debate that we had about Matt Rule last week and the same debate that we had 900 times. Because there was a clip from his media appearance on Monday night, basically, you know, echoing what Matt Ruhl said that made me angry. So I don't know what you wrote. Oh, yeah. No, no, Matt. Yeah. Well, he he wanted it to make you angry. You're talking about Greg Sankey.

He wanted that to make you angry. He wants Nebraska canceling on Tennessee to make you angry. He's using that as a weapon. He is weaponizing that to get what he wants. The column I was writing is about how Sankey is bristling at the notion that what he wants is not good for the game, but what the ACC and Big 12 wants is good for the game. I think there's some nuance here where everybody is looking out for their own best interests. It's just that not like everybody's best interest in some way is is good for the good of the game and bad for the good of the game. And that's the problem is everybody's not going to get what

what they want. And so somebody who doesn't get what they want is going to be like, well, this isn't good for the game. And so that's where it comes from. It is a really interesting situation as they boil down what happens next in the college football playoff, the 2026 and beyond of it all. Ari, I just want you to think about this. So in this press conference, he actually uttered this sentence. Hold on, I'm going to pull it up so I can tell you exactly what he said, use the exact phrasing that he used. He was talking about some other stuff, some

governance stuff, and he goes, I've shared with the decision-making working group that I have people in my room asking, why are we still in the NCAA referring to the the SEC athletic directors and the SEC presidents? He said that in a press conference 10 years ago, that would have been a bombshell. Now he's like, yeah, we know you guys are gonna split off. Who cares? Tell us what the playoffs gonna be. Like that's where we're at now.

Yeah, no, I mean, it's been very clear that that is an inevitability for a long time. Now. We don't like talking about it on the show because it makes us sad, but it's going to happen. So I think that the majority of the conversation this week has been, what does this mean for the playoff? I know Ross Dellinger or Yahoo wrote a big column about how

the spring meetings in beautiful, sunny, panhandled Florida area were about playing golf and getting hammered on the beach, and this time it's not going to be. And it's all about the playoff. But like underneath the surface there, you have a bunch of people trying to get what they want. And like you said, people are going to say it's not good for the game when they don't get what they want. And the fact of the matter is, is I'm not necessarily sure that what anyone wants is good for the game. Well, yeah, you don't want a bigger playoff. I get that, but you want to go back to four, which is also stupid. So it's, it's, it's a little bit of both or bad, but this is going to be a fight, I think. And it's crazy because I was going back. I was like, I know I wrote a column from Destin where Greg Sankey was talking about how they got gotta hurry the hell up and figure things out because

the contract ends after the 2025 season. That was three years ago. They still don't have a format for the next contract. It was three years ago. Yeah. So there are two major formats that they're going to be kicking around here, Andy. Why don't you give us the 411 on what we need to know about the playoff from Destin? Well, yeah, there's a couple formats. One of these is so stupid, and I really don't care if Greg Zanke and Tony Petitia get mad at me for saying this. It's so stupid.

You know me. I'm Mr. You can have a bigger playoff if you want. You can go up to 16. I'm fine with 16, but don't go past 16. But if you're going to do 16, there's a common sense way to do it. One plays 16, two plays 15, three plays 14. You have four rounds, it's very simple, it's all common sense. That's not what they actually want to do. So they want to have a 16 team playoff, four automatic bids for the SEC, four for the big 10, two for the ACC, two for the big 12. This is what the SEC and the big 10 want.

One would go to the highest ranked champ of the other leagues, and then there's three at largest. And what they want to do is have this incredibly dumb double buy system so that the number one and number two seeds would automatically get placed in the quarterfinals. Who are the number one and number two seeds going to be Ari? The SEC and Big Ten champs. Why would they be doing that? To usher along a higher likelihood that those two teams will be playing at the end? No, to keep their championship games valuable. Oh yeah, I got it. Otherwise they would have to lose money on that. Yeah, we're still we're still worrying about the conference championship games.

Right, we're picking up pennies when we're you know when the hundred dollar bills are over here. Yeah, sorry for me not automatically jumping to that. You're just not cynical enough yet, Ari. That's the problem. Yeah. So we want to hear how, OK, let me give you the dumb double buy 16 team format. Let me give you that one.

It took me, I'm not kidding, I don't think I'm a truly stupid person, Ari. I'm not the brightest bulb. And I was very bad at math. And I proved to be very bad at math on this show frequently. But I do feel like I'm a reasonably intelligent person. I'm not lying to you when I tell you it took me 45 minutes and a piece of paper

to figure out how this worked. So you have heard- So this podcast is probably going to go quite well, then, is what you're saying. Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah. So you'd have 13 play 16 and 14 play 15. And I think the plan that was thrown out there is do that on what we consider to be Army-Navy week. And then the following week, those winners would feed into the bracket so one and two would be moved on to the quarterfinals so three would play

the winner of 14 and 15 and four would play the winner of 13 and 16 five would play 12 six would play 11 and seven or play 9. And the winner of that game would be the third game in their playoff and the fourth will be playing their first, while the first and second haven't played yet at all? No, it would be the second game of their playoff. OK. They'd play the week before, then they'd play what we now consider the first round.

All I'm hearing right now is NCAA tournament with the first four and then one seeds get a buy. Am I like caught up? You're caught up, but it doesn't need to be that complicated. Like stop trying to make the sport impossible to explain to a newcomer. Stop. Everybody understands the 16 team tournament, four rounds, Everybody understands the 16 team tournament. Four rounds. One place 16 to place 15, three place 14, four place 13, five place 12. Everybody gets that. But like, but in doing this, let me ask you about the incident.

A tournament. If we got rid of the first four, would anybody complain? I'm not sure that anyone would notice. No, 64 was perfect 16 you may not think is the perfect number But it's a better number than anything you can come up with because it squares evenly and there you can do a lot Of stuff with it, but don't do that. Just don't do that But I'm getting bogged down Ari. No, but so people need to understand what I missed at the beginning, which is a funny counter or funny subplot to this, which is that in theory, the Big Ten and the SEC championship wouldn't be win or go home. catching a playoff win and like putting it through the Mario Kart booster and like moving it through you up two rounds So it's like people would care about it because then they would get a free pass at the quarterfinals and not necessarily about capturing the conference

Championship you're trying to make it a turbo playoff game or the loser doesn't go home, but the winner wins something Yes, it's it's sort of like you're playing for the star in Mario Kart Yes, it's it's sort of like you're playing for the star in Mario Kart. So you're gonna be in the middle of a while Yeah, but the loser still can play in the tournament and probably still wouldn't play in one of those first two games that you just described Correct losers definitely play in the tournament losers not gonna be 13 to 16. So yeah, that's that's one thing that they have not approved anything yet. I think details like that get leaked so people like me go, god, that's stupid.

Whoever leaked that wants people like me to say how stupid that is. I don't think it's just people. In general, people are just like, what the hell? But I've been pretty open to most of the ideas for expanding the playoff. So if you've pushed me to my breaking point, you've found most people's limit. I do think it is kind of funny too that you know,

like 10 years ago, everybody used to just yell about SEC bias, like ESPN, SEC bias, and I still think you get that to a certain extent from a large portion of the crowd who haven't like moved on from it yet. But I think that as the years go on and these things continue to happen, that the Big Ten is becoming quite villainous itself. And kind of like a co-captain, like the SEC is Batman and the Big Ten is like a more powerful Robin. And what they're going to do is try to pitch a system that favors their two conferences to get as many possible teams automatically qualified into the

tournament and then also bastardize like the the process in order to like advance them deep into the tournament before they even have to play a game. It's like, yeah, it's like it does feel like we're trying to separate the two from the rest of the sport without doing it. It's just like, it feels like the beginning of the Super League and then everybody's gonna want to be a part of those leagues and everybody's gonna resent them for existing and it's just kind of like creating a divide between them and college football because I feel like in general the four automatic qualifiers for those two conferences make sense on the surface because I think most of us are adults here and can acknowledge that those are where the best teams are and the most good teams but at the same time too I think like

you know the ACC and the Big 12 teams, but at the same time too, I think like, you know, the ACC and the Big 12 admitting to that and going into it is an acknowledgement that they're second-class citizens in their own sport. Not to mention the rest of college football that is an into power conference. Right, and I mean look, calling the ACC and the Big 12 power conferences, if this goes through, well, that's just a lie. The powers with the big 10 in the SEC. The ACC in the Big 12 are a middle class, but they're not same thing. And then the thing that I always think about, and

this is the cynical part of me Andy is that when we have these discussions with the 44122 whatever I can data math and remembering numbers. Don't even try. It's not even worth it. We all know in our guts, whether it's a Super League or there's another round of realignment before the Super League takes place, that this isn't the final setting of the conference. So if you do this and then the ACC falls apart

or the ACC adds on or whatever could happen in the crazy wild West that is conference expansion, then you're going to arrive back to this year's bracket, which is a bracket that doesn't make sense based on conference alignment and then you're going to start over again. Right? Like I think that like we're all trying to like stomach through this uncertain period of nonsense with the hopes that we're going to land on something that's just like perfectly settled. And then we're going to move forward into the future with a with the sport that doesn't have to keep changing and all we're doing is changing all the wrong parts in the wrong order and it's just gonna get mixed up again

once the conference is realigned again. Yeah you can't future-proof this you can't whatever you do now probably isn't gonna apply in six years when this contract runs out. You just have to accept that, I think, which sucks. I don't know. Ari, when was it for you that you just resigned yourself to it's headed this one way and there's nothing anybody can do? When I was in California, when I was at Subway

eating a foot long sandwich and I was at a, I think I was at the shower. I wasn't in the shower. I was walking into Subway to get a $ a foot long sandwich. And I was at a, I think I was at the shower. I wasn't in the shower. I was walking into Subway to get a $12 foot long. And I got the notification that USC and UCLA were going to the Big 10. So you were before me.

For me, when I really realized, okay, this is all done is when the ACC settled with Florida State and Clemson. Cause I was like, oh, okay. I'm gonna look at the years here Oh, here's where the penalty drops in this year. Oh, this is when they might leave Oh, this happens to when the big ten contract is up. They're like, wait a second. Wait a second Are they gonna go join the big ten or the SEC or there's just gonna be some other league that they join With the best of the SEC in the Big Ten Yeah, the reason why I think I was so early is because the second or UCLA and USA USC went to the Big Ten I think the writing was on the wall that the Pac-12 wasn't going to exist and then every conference was lopsided and then it

Was gonna have to realign itself and that we were gonna end up in a nonsensical spot that we were in Like it wasn't just like okay Those two teams are in the big 10 Oregon and Washington are gonna stay back and the Pac-12 is gonna be like the current big 12 and things are gonna be fine. Like you knew that was like the first domino to or it was like the Jenga tower was leaning over and you knew it was all gonna crash then. All right so Ari let's hear hear from Greg Sankey, because there are a couple really interesting answers to questions.

I started out early with a question that I didn't think was particularly controversial or anything. I was just asking, do you foresee that you're going to talk through this and maybe present a format or two to your presidents at the end of this week to say, here's the one we support. And his answer went to places that I certainly didn't, didn't expect.

Is it a case where you want to present one or several models to your presidents at the end of this? And, um, I think it's incorrect to simply focused on, on the college football playoff at this moment, at least our existence, we've been talking about football scheduling within our own league. I think last year, for examples, are really good experiment. And if you go back to last year, at this time, I said in the year ahead, we're going to have an expanded playoff.

We're going to have an expanded conference. We're going to play an eight teams and excuse me, an eight game schedule with those 16 teams. I want to learn some things. And so we did. Um, but one of the things we learned is you're not going to divorce your regular season schedule from college football, playoff selection. In fact, I think there's more of a feeling that regular season scheduling

is governed by college football playoff selection, witness the discontinuation of a series when this isn't about, this is a critical Troy. It's critical to the reality that, Hey, you can drop a big series and it's not going to hurt you come selection time. Uh, you have a team that played four games against teams with six and six records last year that got in another team didn't play, uh, really anybody at the top of its conference was selected in and it's clear that not

losing becomes in many ways more important than beating, uh, the university of Georgia, which two of our teams were left out. Nobody had that kind of quality went. So, and I think you can't just like run down a college football playoff selection idea without thinking about. Well, if we play it or nine games, what are the impacts that that's the depth of analysis we're looking at? We also look at, and we'll go through this tomorrow, or whether people

want to agree with it or not, that's up to them. We can go through the analytics and show the rigor of our schedule is different than anyone else's period. And we had a learning session in September at the CFP about strength of schedule and strength of schedule isn't everything, but it is an important factor. the CFP about strength of schedule and strength of schedule isn't everything, but it is an important factor. I remember very clearly one of the messages was if you play the top rank team and the 130th ranked team, those two games average out to 65 and a half.

If you play 65 and 66, they average out to 65 and a half. And so the advisor said, just as well playing 65 and 66. Here's my problem. But for maybe one, maybe two teams in a year, we don't have 65 or 66 and everybody else has a group. It's 60 and below that has to be considered by us and making our schedule by the CFP, um, the CFP itself and evaluating selection criteria. And while I won voice asking for that kind of clarity

and information, that hasn't exactly changed the criteria as they now exist or provided clarity on how they're applied. Andy's mic is muted. Look at two in a row, by the way, two days. I've messed up the mic. I'm turning into you. Ari, do you believe Greg Sankey when he says that SEC schedules are so much super harder than everybody else's? This is terrible potty. I don't even know where to begin with that. Go with what your heart tells you'd say. I think there is no question that traditionally speaking,

the SEC schedules are harder. The draft pick argument that you love, all the things that we know about the teams and the resources that they have in recruiting, their proximity to the more talented players in the country and the amount of those players are in that area of the country. I really do believe that it does mean more to a lot of the programs there than they do

in other parts of the country, not all of them, but most of them. And I believe that making it through an eight game schedule in the SEC is every bit, if not more difficult than making through a nine game schedule in another conference, which I alluded to when we were talking about Nebraska this past week. Okay. Yep. So there was the olive branch. The thing that bothers me more than anything. And I just cannot, I just do not understand how the leader of the SEC can sit up there and say that Alabama got left out because they beat Georgia when no other conferences have that. While also ignoring why Alabama was left out because they beat Georgia when no other conferences have that, while also ignoring why Alabama was left out.

It's not, there's two parts of this. And you also have to acknowledge that Alabama was in the position that it was in as a result of beating Georgia. And that position is far more advantageous than most other teams with two losses in other conferences were. They benefited from it, and talking like this just completely and utterly warps reality as if the SEC hasn't been the beneficiary of their schedule strength. It's not true.

Period. It's just not true. Am I like, am I off on this? Well, you're right about the Alabama thing because matter. And they've been they asked him if SMU had two regular season losses, they would have been ranked far below Alabama. They would have been out. Yeah. So regular season losses, they would have been out. Yeah. If so, regular season losses, they would have been out. Why? Right. And because their schedules weren't as deep as in a town that is Alabama's, they get an extra game to lose and they want yours. That's not here's what here's what Sankey saying. And this is he said this elsewhere in the press conference. But and I'm paraphrasing

here, but this is this is what's going on. What he's saying is, do you want us to play nine conference games? Well, okay, they'll do that if you give them the automatic bids. Do you want us to continue scheduling hard non-conference games? Well, they'll do that if you give us

the automatic bids we want. So that's, he's making the offer They can't refuse. This is what I wrote the column about like he's laying it out Saying oh you say you want The SEC to do this. Well, okay. The SEC will do this Here's what we want return and It's a this ingenuous argument because what he's saying isn't true. And I know that he has the poker chips and he's the one in power.

Are you wait. So the S are you saying the SEC schedules are not more difficult than other conferences? I'm saying I was saying more certain SEC schedules are certain or not. And that's the part that I think he's leaving out. I think it's more difficult but the problem that I have with the continued discussion is the willful ignorance that they don't benefit from it. Not recognizing that they were getting the benefit that a 10 and 2 Alabama. They were left out because they went too far with their benefit. They weren't left if Alabama was a two-loss team who didn't lose to Oklahoma, they probably would have gotten in. Oh, there's no probably about it. They would

have gotten it. Like they went too far with it. And like the teams that you're standing up for lost twice more. If they would have lost once more than some of the teams that got in, once more than some of the teams that got in, then they would have done. This doesn't lose to Kentucky. They're in. And like that is the deal with this. And like also too, I had Nebraska fans again on Sunday night, ribbing me about the notion of why would we play these games? And I feel the same exact way. Don't get up there and talk about how great your conferences and how everybody in the conference is and how everybody in the team in the entire conference is a top 30 team. He's saying that too. Except he's weaponizing it.

He's weaponizing what Nebraska did. And I understand why he's saying it in the position that he's in. But it's not like that's the thing that bothers me. And I'm going to read your column and then tomorrow or when this runs, I might write my own. But it's one thing to say that the SEC is more difficult. While I do believe that at the very best, there's an argument that it wasn't more difficult last year, it typically is.

I don't know about last year. But even if you say that it is, Andy, you have to also acknowledge that they are beneficiaries of an extra loss, or the argument is disingenuous. And that's what bothers me. Here's the thing though, because if we're talking about the actual format that they're talking about now, if you're Greg Sankey, you really shouldn't be complaining about how the rankings went last year.

Because the SEC would have gotten what, six teams in, in an all at large one? I actually think that an all at large one, where you just rank the teams one through 16, the way they did during the four team era with no AQs, would probably result in more SEC teams going than the automatic qualifying. teams 1 through 16 the way they did during the 14 year with no AQs would probably result in more SEC teams going than the automatic qualifying. That is what he's saying as a bargaining chip. He's saying that as a bargaining chip to get the automatic bids. Now what he's not saying is he thinks the SEC is gonna get one or two of the at-largest too. Right it's

probably still gonna work out that way because if last season works out that way then Alabama and maybe you know one of the other two SEC teams got they would have gotten five in with the the system like with the auto bids with the ACC and the Big 12 getting two auto bids so they they would have gotten five in on that one. Also too the other thing that I can't stand is that Wisconsin last year was a average version of itself. But Alabama if they would have beaten a non-conference game that he's saying they shouldn't have played instead of playing Wisconsin.

Oh, he's not saying they shouldn't have played it. No, I'm saying he would like them to do it Yeah, yeah, but if those games don't exist on your schedule Then you're also isolating yourself from an at-large standpoint to in the future right where like I just feel like the thought I don't think there's anything for anyone to gain by not playing them Well, we will actually get into this re later in the show because we're going to reveal my projected 2025 playoff bracket. I have a team in there for this very reason. So it'll help illustrate your point. And I don't like feel like we're in May 27th right now, like we're three days away from June. And I don't want to relitigate the entire like Indiana situation last year, but there's

a lot of resentment that Indiana, who canceled a non-conference game against Louisville, played an easy ass schedule and they went 11-1 and that Alabama, you know, whatever would have gone against that same schedule and gone 11-1 too. But I don't think that any average team goes on 11 one record against any schedule. And I also think too, that if you're upset with Indiana who played two teams last year that played in the previous national title game, did enough, then you're mad about the expanded conferences and not Indiana like I think that Indiana existed has created a lot of false narratives are mad at Indiana. Indiana existed has created a lot of false narratives. I don't think people are mad at Indiana. Like, isn't Indiana's fault? They played the schedule the big 10 gave them.

They're mad at the fact that Indiana got in over the other teams without playing a very tough schedule. Like that, like Indiana's existence last year. Well, it would have been nice if they played Louisville. I mean, it would have been more fun. The only thing about it too, that is so ironic to me more than anything, is that Texas had a very

advantageous path to and they ended up playing in the SEC Championship game you know as a result of it but Texas didn't really have any quality wins and we were talking very specifically in November about how if the SEC shook out a certain way that they could be in trouble as an at large. Actually Texas suffering from one of the same problems Indiana suffered from. Texas wasn't bound to the same scrutiny even though their strength of schedule metrics weren't nearly as good as the rest of their conference as a result of the logo on their helmet which also bothers me. And it's possible to get an easy draw on the SE. It might not be as

easy as Indiana's but Indiana also had to go play on the road at Ohio State which is probably more difficult than any single game that Texas had. Yeah, it was a more difficult conference game than anything Texas had. I mean, Texas had to host Georgia, but we found out that Georgia wasn't in the same galaxy as Ohio State. So in Indiana, I think actually played Notre Dame just as well in the

playoffs as Georgia did. So like, as we go through this, like, I just, I feel like if me, the big tenor who lives in Dallas, who covered Ohio State for a decade, can acknowledge that the SEC by and large has a more difficult path to the final week of the season than in Indiana or even in Ohio State, then on the other side of the spectrum, I just want you to do that.

What's interesting about this is you keep bringing Indiana to this. Well, Indiana's the full point. Indiana's on the same team as the SEC. You know that, right? Everything the SEC does for itself, it's also doing for the Big 10. I understand, but I'm bringing up Indiana

because they use that as the poster child of why you should play an easier schedule. But all I'm saying is you can say that all you want. The Big 10 in the SEC are in cahoots. So it's not the SEC versus Indiana. What's interesting and what day is this show running, Ari?? Tuesday May 27th. Tuesday. Well what are we doing? What are we wearing on Tuesday? Tinfoil hat Tuesday. All right. Indiana was an op. Indiana was a Psi-op to convince the world that automatic bids were needed. I mean, even if you take away the Indiana part

and just replace everything I just said about them with SMU, like you probably still arrive at the same place. Listen, I'm going 10th of Ohio Hat and saying Nebraska canceled the Tennessee series because it helps the Big Ten and the SEC because it gives them this rhetoric that they can now use. The only thing I want in this entire discussion is if I'm going to acknowledge the SEC has a harder path

for people who root for the SEC to also acknowledge that there's benefits to that. And not to pretend that they get a bad rap every year. There are benefits to it, but the thing is, everything that you're saying the big bad SEC is trying to do, the big 10 benefits from trying to do the big ten benefits from as well so sure whatever happens here I still care about the ACC and the big 12 and all the other teams are gonna get the shaft over this I I

understand that but they are in a different position and they are not in a strong negotiating position right now and they apparently poked the bear last week. So, River, can you play the Ralph Russo question, please? So to get back to the playoff, but it also, I think, gets to governance to a certain degree. Talking about your ADs have said we've given up too much. You're sort of, again, in a position of thinking

about the greater grid of college football that was talked about a lot from other commissioners last week when there was some, it's a, how do you balance what is best for the SEC with what is best for maybe if we'd be giving up a little bit for the SEC would be better for the whole. Look at the track record. We didn't need 12. Did we say that four we would have had half the four last year?

I don't need lectures from others about good at the game. I don't lecture others about good at the game. And coordinating press releases about good of the game. Now, again, okay, you can issue your press statement, but I'm actually looking for ideas to move us forward. The Ralph, I'll go back and say, I thought the 12 team design was really well considered at the time.

I came, but we never had a unanimous vote to support the 12 team playoff. Even though I was involved in that work, that didn't mean everybody in this league, and we were 14, thought it was the best idea. But you engage in that type of problem solving. that type of problem solving. Um, you know, our eight or nine game schedule that goes back to really 2018, we've been talking about eliminating divisions from 2018 forward and we expanded, uh, so it became a different conversation. And the shape of that conversation has changed over time. We have to make a decision.

The CFP and my colleagues have to understand there's something different here. We all play college football. And so while you ask that of me, I'll go back and say, we didn't need a 12 team college football playoff thought it was good for the game. I was involved in that. Others held it up. Um, I thought it was important to get after that work in a time efficient manner, get we held up and then we went fast.

We didn't go slow so we could go fast. We didn't do anything. And then we went fast without solving some of the other elements. Um, I think I have a responsibility to push as well. without solving some of the other elements. I think I have a responsibility to push as well. I think my membership has a responsibility and the desire to push me. And that is a hard issue. If you wanna go inside what it's like to sit in this role,

I think about the responsibility I have here. I think about the responsibility more broadly all the time. Yesterday I said that we don't apologize here. I'm proud. We have 13 games. I wish it was 14 in baseball. I'm proud of what we did at men's basketball. Uh, I'm proud that we have, I think it's five of eight to five of eight and, and softball, um, I actually think that can make other people better too.

And when I go back to the college football playoff, uh, I'm open to ideas. There's just a lot of incoming. My phone's not ringing off the hook with, Hey, here's another way to look at it. And so we'll continue to be thoughtful. Uh, we'll continue to try to provide perspective and information to our members and help them guide the decision. And, uh, ultimately I recognize I'm the one who ends up typically in front of the podium explaining, not just myself, but ourselves.

So good luck to me. That is a Greg Sankey as close to as he's going to get to. You want the bad guy? I'm the bad guy. That's how it felt. I also wouldn't want to get into a fight with that guy. It's been interesting watching him go from, I didn't know him when he was the compliance guy at the South land Conference, but I feel like I've met that guy in the past and to see him evolve into this where he didn't used to talk like this.

This is a pissed off Craig Sankey. I'll take you behind the curtain a little bit where he says the coordinated press statements, he's talking about, he's not talking about press releases that went out publicly. He's talking about messaging that came from other conferences last week when the straight seating thing passed to certain reporters. I'm not one of those reporters, so I'm not betraying anyone's confidence here, but I do know what was sent out because it's my job and

So He knows too There was as soon as Ralph mentioned good of the game Sankey knew what Ralph was talking about Sankey was talking to certain commissioners right there. Yeah, it is kind of a, you know, you want to hear, because like I kind of see eye to eye with him on one thing, which is like we are doing a group project, right, and you are doing the bulk of the heavy lifting of that group project,

and you've got other people complaining about how you're doing the project without actually helping you get to where you need to go. And if that's how he feels, I would be upset too. Yeah. And he's also the one who has to go present it in front of the class and get yelled at by the teacher if it's not good or yelled at by the public if it's not good. But that doesn't absolve him because you also get the spoils of being the most powerful person in sport.

There's a power to that. There are benefits to that. So you've got to deal with this role like you didn't you maybe didn't ask for it But when you took the job from Mike's live after he retired You knew where it was headed It was one of the two most powerful positions in the sport and it was either gonna be number one or number two always so This is this is the responsibility and I think he accepts And I think he accepts that. I think he understands that. But that is a little more that I'm used to seeing

from these guys, from these folks, these commissioners. They're typically a lot more buttoned up about this stuff. Having covered the various CFP negotiations since before there was a CFP, this is very different. And this is like, because they have to do this, they have to figure out a format here probably in the next couple of months. Like you probably need one set up

before this football season even starts, even though it is for next football season. Because you have to get everything season because you have to get everything Arranged you have to get everything organized they have to figure that part out and I feel like they're at war right now Mm-hmm And I also feel like that's the behavior of a man who knows it's crunch time too, you know

Mm-hmm. Oh, yeah, cuz again I go back to because I was shocked when I was like I think it was last year When I wrote that column about him saying they needed to hurry up and then I remember no way Well, I wasn't at this event last year. So it had to have been two years ago. I like the column is three years ago Three years ago. He's like we got to hurry up. We need a format and they still don't have a format so I Think he's decided if you're gonna make me out to be the godfather Then I will be the godfather and I will make you an offer that you can't refuse Do you want the SEC to play nine conference games? Great. Give us what we want. Do you want? The SEC to keep scheduling hard non-conference games. Great. Give us what we want. Do you want us to make?

The playoff fewer times than we would have great give us what we want which is not not necessarily true but that's the way he's framing the argument so it is well the thing is going to be interesting too that I want to say that might make people upset okay and that's why I'm here right to make people upset of course is that Greg Sankey is also in a position in this very moment where he can still throw his weight around about the dominance of his conference

during a time in which the dominance of that conference might not be as stark as it's been in the past. Mm-hmm. Cause two years from now, this argument may sound very different. If the next two years go the way 2024 went in the playoff. We actually believe that the curve is flattening from the talent perspective

and that more teams can win the national title and it's not gonna be as lopsided as it's been in the past. You might get a lot for a conference that might wind up not being as good as the Big 10 half the time, if not more. I mean, Ari, this is how tight everything's getting with this CFP stuff. We talked about the whole thing with Tennessee the other day and the loyalty oath and all that. We didn't end up asking him about that

once. And I don't think this was an okie doke to keep us from asking about it. We'll have plenty of time to ask about it. Plus, Danny White, Tennessee's AD is going to be here. They're going to be in the same room together. So we'll get a chance to talk about all that stuff. But it's amazing to me that with so many other pressing things going on, this is the thing that absolutely dominated, clearly is the thing that pisses him off the most. Well, also sliding in the fact that the SEC doesn't have to be part of the NCAA anymore is a footnote. Right. But I think in that one, he kind of was talking about ACC Big 10, Big 12, and SEC, the way that question was phrased.

An off the cuff question, just because I was thinking about it in my head in this podcast. Is it possible in your mind, and this might sound crazy, but is it possible in your mind and this might sound crazy, but is it possible in your mind that in the year 2029 that the ACC has more good teams top to bottom than the SEC does in a given year? In what sport? Like is it it's impossible, right? Yes. And it's impossible. Twenty twenty nine. Yes. Yeah. Twenty thirty. I don't know.

Like like, is it possible that I mean cuz I guess I already Already look at those logos. Come on. I know I don't know but like what I can sure but the big ten in the SEC or Equals at this point at least in the boardroom Yeah, I mean I guess there's not enough logos on there to like match the the passion that like LSU has for having a good football team in Florida and Ole Miss and Texas and Tennessee. But it just like to me, it's interesting because like I do wonder if we get to the four AQs for both of those conferences if like, and it's just on the SEC. What about the big 10?

Like what if Michigan goes back to being with the Michigan? You're actually asking a good question. I like the question you're asking and somebody asked that of Sankey Dandy, kind of poo-pooed it too. It's not a bad question. This stuff's all cyclical. Like let's go to basketball.

10 years ago, the SEC was kind of meh in basketball and the SEC is actually really good at men's basketball now. Like the question is, and the ACC is down right now. The ACC will be back up in basketball at some point. Like the question is, and the ACC is down right now. The ACC will be back up in basketball at some point. Like it is cyclical. But is the ACC down because it's a bad run right now? Or does the ACC down in this conversation because it doesn't have enough benchmark programs that care enough to be great at it? Like that's the, that's the real question.

In football or basketball is the question. No, no, I don't like hairbots football. Like Florida's great down that's the real question. Football or basketball is the question. No, no. I like hair abouts football. Like Florida's greats down right now, but Florida state cares deeply about being a good care. They'll put the resources into it. It cares deeply. Miami is caring more financially now than it has in any of the recent years. Yeah, ever.

Um, but then like in terms of that, like if Duke isn't great at football or Cal or BC or Pitt or Virginia tech or Virginia, like, I don't know. I know SMU cares deeply and is trying to be in that in that boat. But like, I just feel like it's just kind of a losing battle when you start comparing them to the to the SEC. No, if you compare how much people care, well, what's the SEC's tagline? If you take the SEC out of this and you do the Big Ten versus the ACC, I wonder if it gets a little bit trickier. Because it's like how many teams in this conference do you think care as deeply as Ole Miss? Well, that's a great question. Now, here's my question to you. Now that Indiana and Illinois have all that money

that the Big Ten is getting now, and Michigan State, do they start to care as much? I think they do. Yeah, I mean, like USC cares, Ohio State cares, Penn State cares, Nebraska, Iowa cares, Iowa cares, but like Nebraska and Iowa have cared for 20 years and it hasn't mattered. Washington cares, Wisconsin cares, like a lot of teams care, a lot of programs care deeply in the big team. Yeah. It just would be interesting to me if we got to a point where we have four automatic qualifiers for a conference that's not as good as a team that or a conference that has two in the future like if that can happen

It's listen. It's not a bad question because this stuff is cyclical But I do think the way that the SEC and the Big Ten are now setting up the sport It becomes much more difficult for that to happen Because of the financial aspect of this whole thing, correct? Yeah, it's it's a lot like when the Premier League set up in England where the teams of the Premier League made so much more money from television than the teams that weren't in the Premier League that even if you did get promoted to the Premier League, they'd just kick your ass and you'd be relegated back down in a year because you'd get that financial infusion for a year,

but it wouldn't be enough to sustain you. It wouldn't be enough to actually succeed. relegated back down in a year because you'd get that financial infusion for a year, but it wouldn't be enough to sustain you. It wouldn't be enough to actually succeed. So that's, that's kind of how it is. All right, let's, let's shift to the 2025 season because it's more fun to talk about the potential actual football. You did this exercise last week where you, you revealed your projected 2025 college football playoff bracket. I was already scheduled to do it this week. It was dumb luck that they decided to vote on the straight seating when they did. So now our brackets look different because I had to see mine straight whereas you use the old rules on yours. So mine was a lot easier to do and

So mine was a lot easier to do and It was it was a very interesting situation very interesting I I have a team on there that I think you're gonna find very interesting so let's see if I you know, I'm gonna try to call this sucker up and We'll take a look At the bracket. You can see it on the graphic on the screen. As you see, I have Texas as your number one seed.

I have Penn State as the number two seed. Notre Dame at three, Clemson at four. Five seed is Ohio State. Six seed is Alabama. Seven seed is Georgia. Eight seed is Oregon. Nine seed is Florida. 10 seed is Texas Tech and my 11 seat

is the you. My 12 seat is James Madison, your Sun Belt champ. At least that's what I'm predicting. I didn't put Boise State. We'll start with the 12 seat. I didn't put Boise State in there automatically because Boise State has a tricky non-conference schedule. Tricky. They play at Notre Dame, which losing at Notre Dame is not going to keep them out, but they also play at USF and Appalachian State comes to them. So if they're not as good as they were last year, there's a distinct possibility they lose a couple of those. So that's why I said, okay, let me look for somebody different. So I go with with James Madison, who went nine and four last year, even after Kirk signetti took a lot of the guys who were the best players on the 2023 team to Indiana, where they went

11 to one. Bob Chesney did a good job. He's reunited with one of your old pals. You know who that is? No, who am I forgetting? Matthew Sluka. Oh. Remember from the first month of UNLV season? And then where he went? He went to James Madison because remember, he played for Bob Chesney at Holy Cross. It would be kind of an interesting,

curve of events if like Sluka don't you it's got to the Don't you sluka not just got traded to the Dukes Yeah, I'm on board with that do you want to talk about Miami are you gonna keep making me me Yeah, let's talk about Miami. So here's my deal with Miami. So This is essentially the same spot in the playoff where you had Illinois And and so I was looking at three different teams for this Illinois. And then also Indiana, because after we talked to Clark Brooks and I examined his whole top 100 returning impact players and realized Indiana

has the same number as like Alabama and Oregon and Clemson. I was like, you know what? We should probably be putting some more respect on Indiana's name here. So- Yeah, but not quite enough to put them in the playoff, right? Well, okay, so here's the way I looked at it. I wanted to pick one of these teams,

but I picked the one I thought was most likely to beat another team that's in the playoff that's on its schedule. So basically I said, I think Miami beats Notre Dame in the season opener and then loses to Florida because I have Florida seated above them. That's the only way this bracket can make sense. But then goes undefeated in ACC play and then loses to Clemson in the ACC Championship game. And that would put them here because they would the win against Notre Dame would be the thing booing them. And that's that's what I was talking about earlier when I said there's a team I have in

my projected bracket that if they'd scheduled an easy non-conference game in that spot they're out of the playoff. But because they didn't and because they win it, they're in the playoff. Yeah. Um, I said that Miami could be 10 and two or eight and four and neither would be surprising. Like if Miami made the playoff, I don't think that would be like earth shattering. You know, I don't think it's, I don't think it'd be shocking. Their, their defense would have to be better. I think their offense, it's a lot to ask, as I said yesterday, a lot to ask to think their offense will be as good or better than last year

with Cam Warden and Xavier Estrepo. But if their defense is significantly better, then their offense doesn't have to be even as good as they were last year to make the playoff. And so here's the thing, when I was considering this with- Well, considering that their offense isn't gonna be anywhere near, like it's not even like, well, will it be off I don't know offense at Miami is like maybe one of the best offenses in Miami history dude like I think that we're like underestimating how good they were offensively

last year I think they were really good I think they could also be really good this year offensively and if they get better defensively, they got a shot. So here's here's my reasoning, you know, so This is me saying I think Miami can beat Notre Dame in that season opener and you're saying okay Andy Why do you have Notre Dame so high? Well, it's basically the same season as last season instead of losing game two They lose game one and then they rip off 11 wins in a row and they finish 11 and one so with Illinois and Indiana, Indiana who I was also considering who I think are going to be very good this year, I basically said, can they beat one of the teams that I think is going to be in the playoff that's on their schedule?

So can Illinois beat Ohio State, or can Indiana beat Oregon or Penn State? I think Miami beating Notre Dame would be more like, or Miami beating Florida, if Florida's a playoff type team. Like I think that's more likely. Then one of those two teams beating one of those teams I mentioned in the big 10. Yes, I think that's fair. Um, it's really hard because even as people like us who believe in Indiana, um, I believe a lot in Illinois, like actually putting the pen down and writing

them into the brackets difficult, like actually like putting your name on that. They kind of have to have an Indiana like season. Now, I will say Illinois playing Duke in the non-conference, the non-ball knower is going to like Duke. No, no, Duke won nine games last year and then went out and got a better quarterback. So no, no, no. Duke is a tough non-conference game. Yeah. But it's still like they didn't get the toughest big 10 draw. Like we, I said hammer the over on the seven and a half on Illinois. Like they're going to have to do something. I think to cement it and that Ohio state game, like if they win that and they, they're going to have to do something, I think, to cement it. And that Ohio State game, like if they win that and they they're 10 and two, they're in, in the field.

There's no question. But if they're 11 and one and they, and they got shellacked by Ohio State, then you have a very similar situation. I don't remember Indiana scheduled off the top of my head. This is more difficult on the surface to me. Well, and they play each other. So the win against Indiana or the win against Illinois is going to help whoever wins that game. Duke, Indiana, USC, Ohio State, Washington, and then Wisconsin on the road in late November

is a difficult schedule to make. Well, yeah. Well, last year when we looked at Indiana's and saw Washington and Michigan. We're like, oh god, they're gonna get murdered. Yeah, so It's it depends on what these teams actually are. We just don't know. That's the most difficult thing about it, too It's like hard to like yeah come up with the rigor of a schedule when you're not necessarily sure from top to bottom Like it what is USC going to be like do are we do we know what USC is? Nope, we don't know what they are. So, okay. Another interesting thing,

cause we have a lot of the same teams. I don't know how much you have to rehash. You have two interesting ones that I did not have in mind. And then everything else rehashed. Cause you've got Oregon, you've got Georgia, Texas, Penn State, Bama, all those teams. Yep. You actually did the thing that I was too much of a wuss

to do, which was put Florida in. did the thing that I was too much of a wuss to do, which was put Florida in. So it's really like it's gonna be LSU or it's gonna be Florida or it's gonna be Texas A&M or it's gonna be South Carolina. One of those teams is gonna make it. I just don't know which one, but I think Florida has maybe the best quarterback of all of them. And which is saying something because South Carolina and LSU also have really good quarterbacks. But I've, listen, call me a homer if you want. I think I've been exceptionally critical of my alma mater over the last few years. The reason I'm not so critical of them right now is I think they have a really, really good quarterback in

DJ Lagway. So I'm drinking that Kool-Aid if his arm is OK, which is a big if. He elevates a group that the Lions of scrimmage both got better as the season went on last year. You don't need a reaction. Great running back. One of the best interior offensive linemen in the country. Yeah, you come in and come in and think in their offensive and defensive lines are actually good this year as opposed to last year where you didn't think that. So that's why their schedule is still incredibly tough and the line is still very thin between between them making the playoff and fire everyone. That's all there is to it. And then you picked Tech in the Big 12.

I did. Now like we said last week the Big 12 is impossible to predict. I just went with a team that bought what it thinks is the best roster in the Big 12. They went out in the transfer portal and competed against teams that Texas Tech typically does not compete against for players, and they got some of them. And so I'm going to go with the deepest roster wins, which is how you and I, in the Stars Matter universe, always operated.

We may be wrong. And we couldn't both have the same Big 12 team. That would have been blasphemous. We couldn't. And by the way, I'm fully reserving the right to flip this to Utah, because I've been very, very heavy on chugging Utah Kool-Aid in the last eight days or so. Well, my pick also has a major issue with their quarterback

right now. And it's deeper than football. But that will change dramatically if something were to change there. So like that, I am more than comfortable coming on this podcast and saying, I have no idea who's going to win the big 12 next year. No idea. And it's fine.

It's it. Listen, we're going to we're actually going to get the three and a half point coin minted for picking big 12 games this year. So we can so we can flip it. I'm not making the penny anymore. So there's going to be some coin mentors. Yeah, somebody is going to need the work. So I had a Texas, Ohio State rematch in the semis that we had in the semis this past year.

I had a Georgia Notre Dame game, but this time in the semi and not in the quarters. I think that would be a lot of fun. Basically I had Georgia getting hot and making it into the national championship game. Because I wrote down, as I was making this bracket, who I thought everybody lost to during the season so I could make it make sense in terms of seeding. So I had Texas's only loss was at Georgia. And so in this, it avenges its only loss

in the national title game. it avenges its only loss in the national title game. Yeah. Um, sec Homer, that's me live from destiny. You're going to go down to the beach and put your feet in the sand now with Greg Sankey. Yeah. I don't think I've invited. I don't think I've invited. I thought that was a really good show and I'm happy you're there because it's going to give us a good show all week.

So yeah, the coaches show up Tuesday morning. So we are going to have a little bit of action. Can you get one of the coaches to take a cheap shot publicly and another coach, too, for us to get us through the next two weeks? Bro. We get a Jimbo, Nick Saban rehatch on top of all this? We get some real action.

It would be amazing. They've changed the format in terms of the geography of the building at SEC Spring Meetings. It used to be that where we tend to work is downstairs in the basement. And that's where the football coaches used to meet. And there's one elevator that they have to get to or a stairwell they have to get to to get get up out of there. One of the finest moments in SEC spring meetings history was the year that Lane Kiffin was the Tennessee head coach and I don't know what he said in the meeting that set Steve Spurrier off. Steve Spurrier was

South Carolina's coach at the time but Kiffin comes screaming out of the SEC or out of the coaches meeting for the elevator like he is making a beeline like pushing the button like let's let's go, let's go. And Spurriers just chirp it out of the entire time. And my initial thought was like Lane Kiffin had been doing a lot of, you know, his troll type stuff early on in that time at Tennessee, kind of poked the bear with Urban Meyer

when Urban Meyer was the coach at Florida. And Steve Spurrier, kind of the original SEC troll. Yeah. And I want to believe that it was Steve Spurrier saying, listen son, you think you're something. I invented this. It probably was about some dumb rule, but I want it to be about something else.

The thing about that scenario you just mapped out is that it literally could have been about anything. It could have been, it really could have been it really could have been like There's no telling but I've never seen someone want to get into an elevator so bad and then Sprayer got in the elevator With him and kept talking love that So unfortunately, they keep us away from all the good stuff like that now But we'll still try to get as much as we can. And who knows who's going to go off. It's a, it's a very volatile, chaotic time in the world of college sports.

And we're going to cover it all for you at on three Ari talk tomorrow.