SEC's Greg Sankey isn't happy with AFCA, or shy to say it | Goodbread

BIRMINGHAM — Greg Sankey and Craig Bohl walk into a bar.

That's not the beginning of a joke. It's what needs to happen.

The former is clearly not happy with the latter; SEC Commissioner Sankey spoke candidly on Monday about the American Football Coaches Association's recent showing of public support for a 24-team College Football Playoff, among other stances. Bohl is it's executive director, and Sankey believes he was due, at the very least, a heads up that the memo was forthcoming.

"It's kind of disappointing. I had seen Craig Bohl a couple weeks ago. I know he has my cell phone number," Sankey said at the Associated Press Sports Editors Southeast Region meeting at the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame. "It would have been nice to have had a conversation about the rationale for their statement, and maybe the rationale for some of those decisions. That's a fair leadership expectation."

Ooofff. Now there's a frosty shoulder.

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The AFCA also issued public support for the elimination of conference championship games, a reduction of bye weeks from two to one, and season-end no later than the second Monday in January. As for the size of the playoff field, the AFCA statement advocated for the maximum number of teams, without specifying 24, but 24 is the big number in the conversation.

And whether the CFP will expand to 16 or 24 teams is the conversation that matters most.

The SEC has backed a 16-team playoff field, but more relevant entities than the AFCA also have reportedly sided with a 24-team format; namely, ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips, Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark, and Notre Dame Director of Athletics Pete Bevacqua.

Majority control of CFP matters falls with the SEC and Big Ten, however. The Big Ten's initial 24-team playoff proposal last year included a mix of at-large bids and multiple allocated bids to various conferences. Sankey was never a fan, but a 24-team playoff without allocations might be something of a compromise. Sankey wants more analysis and data regarding a 24-team format, and he was clear that research on a 24-team field hasn't been advanced the way it was when the CFP changed from a four-team to a 12-team field.