Joel Klatt examines if the ACC, Big 12 should push for CFP model with 2.5 bids for the two leagues

Joel Klatt was agitated this morning in discussing the proposed 5+11 model for the College Football Playoff. That led to several options from him of how to better set up a sixteen-team field, specifically for the sake of the ACC and the Big 12, including one that even started to seed the spots in fractions.

Klatt broke down another model of the CFP, one that involved 2.5 seeds each meant for the Atlantic Coast Conference and Big 12, during his show on Monday. He had it to where the SEC and Big Ten would get four spots apiece, there’d be two at-large spots with another for the mid-major representative, and, for the remaining five spots, the ACC and Big Ten would split them in some respect, hence the half, dependent on the resumés or, in Klatt’s case, on-field results between the two leagues in a play-in.

“If they wanted to argue for anything, if they wanted to earn it on the field, they should be arguing for the two model and maybe even a 2.5 model,” said Klatt. “Now, what would that look like? Now, that would be wild, Joel. Let me just kind of discuss a 2.5-model for the Big 12 and the ACC. If you wanted to earn it on the field, if you want to take it out of the boardroom and you want the sixteen-team playoff, then let’s go 4-4-2.5-2.5 for the ACC and the Big 12…and then one for the Group of Five and then two at-large spots for Notre Dame and a second at-large team.”

“How do you do 2.5? That sounds crazy. Well, you actually do it quite easily by pitting, let’s just say the fourth of fifth-place team in each of the ACC and the Big 12 against east other. Maybe your play-in weekend is just against each other and you’re going to have five spots total, and three of them are going to go to the ACC and two of them to the Big 12. Or, on any given year depending on how those matchups go, on the field, you would get three or two. So, you would have 2.5 spots,” Klatt continued. “So, basically you’re saying, hey, between the ACC and the Big 12, we’re going to split five at-large spots so that’s how you get to 2.5. In that case, you would be guaranteeing yourself, at a minimum, two spots every year and the potential for a third. Versus arguing for a model that you would only, in most years, get one?”

Again, this was a result of recent talks of what the future would look for the CFP. 14-team and 16-team models are under consideration for the next expansion, including ones in the 16-team editions that are of that 5+11 model that will be the top-five conference champions followed by eleven at-larges. That type of format would likely, as compared to the SEC or Big Ten, limit the number of teams in from the ACC or Big 12, even to just their respective champs.

A lot has been discussed and being considered when it comes to possible new models for the CFP. Klatt, though, just cannot understand why the ACC and Big 12 wouldn’t further consider the ones that better position them, like ones he suggested with 2 to 2.5 seeds between them.