CLEMSON — The ACC and Big 12 both prefer a 5+11 mode for a 16-team College Football Playoff, and they might get it.

There is a catch, though. The SEC needs to go to a nine-game conference schedule.

Why does the SEC’s conference slate matter in regard to the future format of the CFP?

Good question. Here is why.

During a call earlier today, Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger reported Big Ten athletic directors discussed the 5 Automatic Qualifiers + 11 At-large CFP model that is under consideration by the SEC. Many of those athletic directors, according to Dellenger sources, say they will not support such a model if the SEC remains at eight conference games.

The Big Ten plays nine conference games and has wanted the SEC for the last several years to move to a similar model. The two conferences have even discussed an SEC-Big 10 football challenge, as well.

However, the Big Ten will not agree with that head-to-head challenge unless the SEC adopts a nine-game conference schedule. Now, the Big Ten is holding the CFP over the SEC’s head, as well.

According to Dellenger, the SEC’s deadline to decide on the 2026 league schedule, being nine or eight games, will be decided, at the latest, by the start of the 2025 football season.

This means there is a real chance the CFP format negotiations will extend into the fall.

SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey said on Wednesday, according to Dellenger’s reporting, the timeframe by which the SEC must decide on moving to nine conference games for 2026 will arrive sooner than the deadline to decide a future CFP format.

“I’m not sure we can work through our (CFP) obligations,” by that deadline, Dellenger reported Sankey said on X.com from the SEC’s Spring Meetings in Florida.

Last week, the Big Ten voted in favor of 4+4+2+2+1+3 format, meaning four automatic qualifiers each for the SEC and Big Ten, while the ACC and Big 12 get two each, one from the Group of 6 conferences and three at-large bids.

The ACC and Big 12 proposed at their meetings earlier this month, a 4+4+3+3+1+1 model to go along with the 5+11 (five automatic qualifiers + 11 at-large) format, as well. The 4-4-2-2-1+3 and 5+11 are under the most consideration at the SEC meetings.

However, the pushback from SEC coaches, according to Dellenger, has sparked more discussion from many SEC athletic directors, who favored a 4-4-2-2-1+3 going into this week’s meetings.

Why are the SEC and Big Ten conferences holding the cards and the future of the CFP?

If you recall, last spring, during intense negotiations over the future of the CFP, leaders of the Big Ten and SEC threatened to create their own postseason system if they were not granted a majority share of the CFP revenue and full authority over the playoff format.

The ACC and Big 12, along with the Group of 6 conference and Notre Dame chose not to call their bluff, so the 10 FBS leagues and Notre Dame signed a memorandum of understanding handing control over to college football’s two richest conferences.

Now the future of the CFP and maybe the ACC and Big 12 are in the hands of the SEC, and that for many is kind of scary.

“I remain steadfast about fairness in the system and access regardless of the model, etc., but I respect my colleagues that I work close with, so I will hold off on commenting on specific models, AQs or the rest of it,” ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips said from the ACC’s Spring Meeting on May 14.

Phillips and the rest of the Power 4 Commissioners are expected to meet in the weeks to come and discuss more of these issues

“We have been in a nice rhythm where we are talking often about a lot of things, including this,” Phillips said. “But I stand true to what I said before about the playoffs and my thoughts there.

“We thought a lot about a variety of options that might be there. You cannot go down any road until you have the finality with what the model looks like.”