Pontificators like to call it “Talking season.” College football conference media days got underway Tuesday with the first of two days with the Big 12 in Frisco, Texas. Yes, the events are about talking. But what gets said? Turns out there was a lot from Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark. He doubled down on his position on the looming changes to the playoff format.
The current college football playoff format ends at the conclusion of this season. There is no agreed-upon format going forward other than a conceptual agreement to expand from 12 to either 14 or 16 schools.
The two primary formats that have a chance of implementation are 4-4-2-2-2-1 format and the 5-11 format. The former gives four automatic qualifiers to the SEC and the Big 10 conferences. The ACC and Big 12 would get two apiece. There would be two Group of Five schools and one at-large team. The 5-11 gives the conference champion of each of the Power Four schools an automatic bid, as well as the highest-ranked G5 school. The other 11 would be at-large schools chosen by the playoff committee.
Brett Yormark Doubles Down on Playoff Format at Big 12 Media Days
At a few points during the off-season, the one that gives the Big 10 and the SEC the most teams seemed to be the leading candidate, in no small part because those two conferences are viewed as the ones driving the bus.
But on Tuesday, Yormark repeated his support of the 5-11 format. It only guarantees his conference one spot, versus the other that commits to two. But he said he feels the answers should come from the play on the field, and, “I have a lot of faith in the selection process.” Yormark added that he did not like conferences being guaranteed spots regardless of on-field performance.
He also addressed the new revenue sharing format for college sports, the College Sports Commission, and the move toward school-controlled payments for athletes. Yormark did so by taking a shot at the collectives. He said the goal of the CSC is to “Move away from pay-for-play to true third-party partnerships.”
The comment aims its point at the result of the House v. NCAA settlement. Judge Claudia Wilken put more weight on actual NIL efforts for athletes at the expense of booster-driven collectives, which have been funding college programs for several years now.
Yormark said college football does not need a professional-style payment model. “We are college football, and we must act like it,” he said.
There is irony in his stance, since it is a Big 12 school, Texas Tech, which has made the most off-season noise with the financing of its athletic programs. Oil industry billionaire and Tech booster Cody Campbell has been at the forefront of a financial revolution in Lubbock. Conversely, he has also been clear that he thinks the existing system, prior to the House settlement, could drive college sports off a cliff.
Speaking Of Playoffs
Kansas State coach Chris Klieman has a unique perspective on the potential format change. He coached at the FCS level for 13 years before going to Manhattan, Kansas, and the FCS level has always had a playoff system.
Klieman said, “The perfect landing spot would be 16,” in terms of where the expansion should go. He said he would also be in favor of eliminating the four first-round byes that currently exist. He said he wanted all of it determined on the field.
There is a downside to that. He acknowledged that the “Wear and tear on the athletes is real.” He said it becomes an unintended consequence of cutting down the roster sizes as a result of the House settlement.
Question of the Day
We all love our media brethren. Well, we love some of them. And at these events, there is always a question or two that leaves some of us scratching our collective heads. Tuesdays came from a young reporter (no, we are not going to out him by name), who addressed Cincinnati coach Scott Satterfield. He asked Satterfield if the sartorial change from wearing a visor in previous seasons to a full hat in Spring camp was intentional. Hey, no stone unturned here. Oh, and Satterfield’s complete answer? “Yes.”
Coach Speak of the Day
That comes from Texas Tech coach Joey McGuire. “It was a really fun off-season,” McGuire opined to the media. Circle back to the Cody Campbell topic. Texas Tech completed a $250 million dollar upgrade to the football training facilities, compliments of the aforementioned Campbell. The donor, through Tech’s collective, also funneled in $55 million to be spread across the Texas Tech athletic programs, with football obviously getting its “fair share” of the money. Yeah, we would say that can make for a fun off-season.
Speaking of Talking Season
Few Big 12 coaches bring the anticipation out of the media quite like Arizona State head coach Kenny Dillingham. The young coach is never at a loss for words.
Last year, ASU was picked in the preseason conference poll to finish 16th. The Sun Devils won the conference championship. Conference leadership decided not to have the pre-season poll this year. Yormark said it is a football-only decision. He believes ASU was hurt in the national polls throughout the playoff selection weeks by the preseason expectations.
Dillingham was asked to share his thoughts on the process. “I could[n’t] care less and I don’t have a clue,” he replied.
He said that last year’s success will have nothing to do with what happens to ASU this season. He told the assembled media how he advised his team prior to Spring camp. “You had your time for people to tell you how good you are,” he said. From that point on, he said his players were told to forget last season.
But last season was the breakout for his quarterback, Sam Leavitt. As a redshirt freshman, Leavitt threw for just under 3,000 yards with 24 touchdowns and six interceptions. How does Dillingham plan to keep Leavitt grounded this season? Here is what he said he told his young quarterback. “Everyone else will tell you how good you are. I will be the one to tell you you suck,” he joked.
Eight more teams will make their appearance on Wednesday.
Main Image: Raymond Carlin III-Imagn Images
The post Brett Yormark Doubles Down on Playoff Format at Big 12 Media Days appeared first on Last Word on College Football.