Mississippi State president Mark Keenum, the chair of the College Football Playoff board of managers, told ESPN's Paul Finebaum on Friday that the SEC would prefer to "not have automatic bids" in future iterations of the playoff.
Keenum's comments came just weeks before the CFP's Dec. 1 deadline to determine whether there will be a format change for 2026 and beyond.
"I'm not a big fan of automatic qualifiers," Keenum said on "The Paul Finebaum Show," which was live from Mississippi State ahead of Saturday's game against Georgia. "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.