SEC commissioner Greg Sankey says conference is al

ATLANTA - The most powerful man in college football took the podium on the Peach Bowl Field section of College Football Hall of Fame at precisely 11:45 a.m. ET on Monday. Greg Sankey stood above the 25-yard line facing roughly 200 media members sitting on legit field turf and the SEC Networks second of two mobile studios to his left. Looking above the television cameras he could see regulation goal posts Damion Willis Jersey , a mere 35-yard boot away.He had been quiet since the Big Ten answered his bloody coup 12 months ago that resulted in Texas and Oklahoma pledging their futures to the SEC. It took a year, but the Big Ten punched back, poaching USC and UCLA from the Pac-12. The arms race between the SEC and Big Ten has shown no signs of stopping, and there has been no shortage of internet words spent on the inevitable day when those two leagues will be giant, super, mega conferences and the rest of college football will melt away.Sankey, in his solid gold tie, was here to remind folks he feels no need to be reactionary.Theres no sense of urgency in our league, no panic in our reaction to others decisions, he said. We know who we are.In his 22-minute opening statement, he reminded the media three different SEC schools have won the national championship the last three seasons. Which, he noted, wasnt as good as the 2007-10 run, when four different SEC schools won the national title in four seasons. In the BCS/CFP era, six SEC schools have been national champs.Ill let you make the comparisons between us and our colleagues, he said.MORE: The word colleagues was an interesting choice, since it does not seem like the conference commi sioners are exactly working C.J. Uzomah Jersey in tandem nowadays. Sankey said he was at his lake house in New York when the USC/UCLA news came down, and he decided to wait until the following Wednesday to meet with the SEC presidents to sort through the avalanche of on-the-record and off-the-record comments so he could give a clear picture to his bo ses.Asked if the addition of Texas and Oklahoma trumped the Big Tens Los Angeles acquisition, he said, Yes, then added he needed to be careful when using the word trump nowadays. He discu sed how adding Texas and OU restored rivalries and kept the leagues geographic footprint in tact, a not-so-veiled shot at his colleagues in Chicago. When the term super league came up, he said he felt like the SEC already is one. Will it George Iloka Jersey expand beyond 16? The league appears in no rush, but he made it clear the SEC will not be left behind if circumstances change.Well watch what happens around us and be thoughtful but be nimble, he said.On the future of the College Football Playoff, it does not appear he will be supporting any sort of expansion that will include automatic bids. The four at-large formula has obviously worked well for the SEC in the eight-year history of the playoff. His attempt at a 12-team format with six at-large bids and six automatic bids was stalled last year, and it is clear that is still a source of frustration. Sankey felt that was the proper balance.Things have changed, Russell Bodine Jersey he said. I was clear back in January, when we walked away from the conversation that we as a conference were not unanimous in our support. I had moved people forward to where we supported it as a league. If were going to go back to square one, were going to take a step back from the model introduced and rethink the approach number of teams, whether there should be conference champions at all. Just earn your way in.MORE: The SEC is still debating an eight-game or nine-game schedule once the Big Two from the Big 12 join, and Sankey e sentially said whether Oklahoma and Texas leave the Big 12 before 2025 was between OU, Texas and the Big 12. The Sooners and Longhorns have been involved in certain discu sions from the administrative level (including scheduling), but they were not invited to the league meetings in Destin, FL because of the potential distraction it would have caused.Sankey is a smooth operator in front of the microphone and behind closed doors, and he has taken a highly succe sful league when he arrived in 2015 to an even more prosperous and prominent place in the sport. Though there is no permanent spot on the horizon in one of the top floors of this building (the College Hall is for players and coaches only), he has his conference in a good spot as unprecedented change grips the sport.We are confident in our collective strength, Alex Redmond Jersey and we are uniquely positioned to continue to provide remarkable experiences, educationally and athletically, along with world-cla s support to student-athletes," he said. Related Articles Sporting News 2022 college football Preseason All-American team: Alabama's Bryce Young, Texas' Bijan Robinson lead the way Ranking college football's top 25 quarterbacks in 2022 Greed is good: Super conference era is coming, and it is going to be good for college football