Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby told Sirius XM Radio on Thursday that there have been discussions about delaying the College Football Playoff and the New Year’s Six bowls because of the coronavirus pandemic.
“I am on the CFP operations committee, and we spent some time talking about that,” Bowlsby said. “We have not come to any closure on it, but there is some latitude to postpone it if that need should arise.
“The same is true with some of the New Year’s Six games,” he added. “I don’t know if I see us playing a championship game in February, but you just never know. These are unusual times, and things that might not otherwise be acceptable have to be considered in this kind of circumstance.”
CFP executive director Bill Hancock told ESPN there is a strong sentiment among the commissioners to play the games as scheduled, “knowing it won’t be perfect,” and that they plan to wait as long as they can to make a decision.
“Nothing is imminent,” Hancock said. “They’re talking about a lot of things, which is night and day different than they’re going to do it.”
As the SEC continues to navigate through a tumultuous week during which four games were postponed in a span of three days, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey was asked Wednesday about the possibility of pushing the playoff back and told reporters, “We have finish lines right now.”
“The semifinals are on [January] first,” Sankey said. “The championship is on the 11th. The reality is if you walk in the back of my building, there’s a sign that says be flexible.
“I’m not going to hypothesize about change,” Sankey added, “but I’m not inattentive to the potential that change may need to occur at a number of different levels.”
The 13 members of the CFP selection committee are scheduled to release their first ranking on Nov. 24 and their final ranking on Dec. 20.
