Okay.. So don't get me wrong... I'm in the vast majority with you guys... Kevin Warren can pound sand... He seems to be an incompetent, driver's learners permit holding, teenager who was handed the keys to a Ferrari... That being said.. It has leaked that he's dug in and isn't giving an expanded CFP field because Sankey and the SEC are adamant that a P5 conference champion should NOT qualify and that it should just be the highest rated conference champs... I'm actually going to give Warren the benefit of the doubt on this one... With one massive IF! IF WE DO AWAY WITH CONFERENCE DIVISIONS. I saw a couple people saying, but you could get a 7 win undeserving champ into the playoff... Sure some sleaze ball could wiggle their way into a Conference Championship in a weak division and pull off a stunner to clinch a birth.. However, if you eliminate the divisions, that's just not going to happen... I looked at the last three seasons of a full schedule.. And we all agree that there have been really weak ACC seasons and even this past PAC 12 season.. BUT even in the ACC's worst year under the undivisioned alignment the WORST team to get in would be either a Virginia team who was ranked 23rd going into the Conference Championship, but would have ended the season 10-3 with a win over #3 Clemson who was 12-0... Or a Syracuse team who was ranked 20th going into the ACC Title but would've finished with a 10-3 mark as well and had a win over #2 Clemson who was 12-0... Both instances would've likely seen those team ranked at minimum in the top 15.. So here is how every championship game would've looked with the two best teams playing for an automatic birth.
2018
ACC: #2 Clemson 12-0 vs. #20 Syracuse 9-3
Big Ten: #6 Ohio State 11-1 vs. #7 TTUN 10-2
Big XII: #5 Oklahoma 11-1 vs. #14 Texas 9-3
PAC 12: #11 Washington 9-3 vs. #13 Washington State 10-2
SEC: #1 Alabama 12-0 vs. #4 Georgia 11-1
2019
ACC: #3 Clemson 12-0 vs. #23 Virginia 9-3
Big Ten: #1 Ohio State 12-0 vs. #8 Wisconsin 10-2
Big XII: #6 Oklahoma 11-1 vs. #7 Baylor 11-1
PAC 12: #5 Utah 11-1 vs. #13 Oregon 10-2
SEC: #2 LSU 12-0 vs. #4 Georgia 11-1
2021
ACC: #15 Pittsburgh 10-2 vs. #16 Wake Forrest 10-2
Big Ten: #2 TTUN 11-1 vs. #7 Ohio State 10-2
Big XII: #5 Oklahoma State 11-1 vs. #9 Baylor 10-2
PAC 12: #10 Oregon 10-2 vs. #17 Utah 9-3
SEC: #1 Georgia 12-0 vs. #3 Alabama 11-1
Greg McElroy on College Football XM said that Kevin Warren is the one that is holding up playoff expansion. Warren has dug his heels in.
Kevin will not budge on having power 5 conference champs having automatic bids. Everyone else wants the highest ranked conference champions.
— jbook (@jbook37) January 11, 2022
