Heather Dinich: SEC commissioner Greg Sankey 'posturing' about conference-only playoff

Throughout this offseason, issues surrounding the transfer portal and NIL have been the most widely discussed topics in college athletics. But in college football, there is still a major decision to be made about the future of the College Football Playoff. On Monday, a report emerged saying that the SEC could stage its own playoff, and that the idea would be discussed at spring meetings.

Following the introduction of that idea, ESPN college football insider Heather Dinich joined Get Up on Tuesday morning to further analyze the potential SEC-only playoff. In the end, Dinich believes that the SEC and commissioner Greg Sankey are “posturing” after not getting the College Football Playoff expansion that the conference was originally seeking.

“This seems like posturing to me because Greg Sankey was mad when the College Football Playoff did not expand,” Dinich said. “Remember there was an 8-3 vote where the Pac 12, the ACC and the Big Ten voted against expansion at this time for different reasons. Greg Sankey is still mad about this, and to me this is a not-so-subtle message saying, ‘Hey, we’re not going to be as accommodating this time around when we talk about expansion again.’”

With so much uncertainty and debate going on within the NCAA, now is the time to throw some ideas at the wall to see what sticks. Dinich said that it doesn’t hurt to come up with some ideas like the SEC has regarding the playoff, though the idea is still very speculative at this point.

“The reason we’re talking about this is because there’s chaos in college athletics. There is a search for a new NCAA president, the NCAA is restructuring itself, and the bottom line is there’s a vacuum of leadership,” Dinich added. “So here is what you get: you get let’s throw these ideas out here and see what happens. And this is another example of it. So until the NCAA and college athletics figures itself out, everyone is thinking about what options are out there. And this is what you get. This is part of that chaos.”

Dinich: SEC-only playoff idea is part of the ‘chaos’

This past season, Alabama and Georgia faced off in the SEC Championship. The Crimson Tide won that matchup, but in the rematch in the National Championship Game, it was the Bulldogs that came out on top.

The current College Football Playoff format currently runs through the 2025 season, and a new agreement is needed for 2026 and beyond. In the end, Sankey is far from the only commissioner, and the idea of an SEC-only playoff could just be a way for him to have a backup plan in case things don’t go in the direction he wants.

“Think about this … a national championship that has a USC, an Ohio State, you name your blue blood program, and then the SEC champion. Two national champions. Is that good for college football? I really don’t think Greg Sankey truly believes that at heart, but here’s what you have to remember. The College Football Playoff needs a format for the 2026 season,” said Dinich. “The current deal goes through 2025. So the next time around, it doesn’t have to be unanimous. Whoever wants to participate in whatever format they come up with can participate.

“There’s 10 FBS commissioners, Sankey’s only one of 10, plus Jack Swarbrick, who are going to decide that format. If the other commissioners come up with a format that Sankey and the SEC don’t agree with, that’s your slim window where the SEC isn’t participating and maybe they have their own tournament. But in case anybody forgot, we had an SEC national championship, it was last year – Alabama and Georgia played.”