CFP Chair Explains Why SEC Prefers to Not Have Automatic Bids in Future Bracket Format

College Football Playoff board of managers chairman Mark Keenum, who also serves as president of Mississippi State, revealed why the SEC wants to avoid the inclusion of automatic bids in future CFP formats.

"I'm not a big fan of automatic qualifiers," Keenum said during an appearance on The Paul Finebaum Show (h/t ESPN's Heather Dinich). "I think the best teams ought to play in our nation's national tournament to determine who our national champion in college football is going to be and not have automatic bids. That's the position of the Southeastern Conference -- presidents and chancellors, our commissioner, and probably most of the conferences that are part of the CFP."

The SEC and Big Ten have the most control over CFP format discussions and will need to determine if there'll be a change for the 2026 playoff before the Dec. 1 deadline. If an agreement cannot be reached, the current 12-team model will remain in place for another year.

A 16-team format featuring the top five conference champions and 11 at-large bids previously gained support from "every FBS conference except the Big Ten" due to its desire to include automatic qualifiers, per Dinich.

The Big Ten has reportedly supported a model that would result in four automatic qualifiers for itself and the SEC instead.

Yahoo Sports' Ross Dellenger also reported in July that the SEC and Big Ten were initially thought to be "aligned behind a format with multi-automatic qualifiers for a single conference," but ultimately weren't on the same page.

With the deadline drawing closer, the two conferences will need to get on the same page soon in order to agree upon a potential CFP expansion.