This is an opinion column.

Are we overthinking this?

Not the whole spiderweb of existential threats up for discussion at this week’s SEC spring meetings. Some of that mess is upon us because of a lack of thought and institutional foresight on the part of the administrative forefathers.

This is about the College Football Playoff and its ever-complicating models for participant selection.

It’s late May and we’re deep into the orders of operations. We’re talking PEMDAS flashbacks.

They’re discussing 4-4-2-2-1+3 at large.

How about 5-11?

Or maybe 4-4-3-3-1?

Numbers, numbers, numbers.

What are we doing?

It’s a matter of self-preservation and self-interest as the power vacuum … does what a vacuum does.

For the uninitiated or those without accounting degrees, the 4s and 3s and 2s are proposals for the number of automatic bids allocated by conference. The SEC and Big Ten would get the 4s, ACC and Big 12 the 3s and everyone else scraping over the others.

The 5-11 plan would grant automatic bids to five conference champions with the next 11 spots up for grabs. The Big Ten doesn’t sound like its on board with this plan if the SEC sticks with an eight-game conference schedule, Yahoo Sports reported Wednesday afternoon.

Dogs chasing their tails.

The ACC and Big 12 want the 4-4-3-3 because they’d get one more automatic entry each, but it’s pretty clear that’s not being seriously considered.

But at least one U.S. Representative has suggested that automatic bids weighted too heavily towards the SEC and Big Ten could trigger congressional oversight.

At least that’s a group that’s never been accused of thinking too hard.

However, it’s an entity not unlike college conferences that struggles to make final decisions due to competing factions.

Honestly, it’s all boring math but they’re also equations that could reshape the texture of our sacred college football seasons. It sounds like the SEC will only move to a nine-game conference schedule if they get the guaranteed minimum of four participants in what would be a 16-team bracket.

Again, dogs vs. tails.

The difference between an eight- and nine-game schedule sounds academic until considering the possible fall-out of continuing with an eight-game concept. Rivalries like Alabama-Tennessee and Auburn-Georgia wouldn’t be protected as annual games, commissioner Greg Sankey said Tuesday.

Not suggesting he’d use historic rivalries hostage as a bargaining chip, but that could certainly sway any fence sitters on the matter.

So it’s complicated and everything’s connected.

That’s before we get into the even more complex concepts of play-in games for SEC teams scrapping for the final automatic-qualifying spots.

Clearly, there was discontent with how Year 1 of the expanded 12-team field was selected. The SEC was never going to quietly allow the disrespect of a three-team allocation last year.

The automatic bid concepts would eliminate the subjectivity of the selection committee from the equation. Plenty of respectful disagreement was aired this week over the committee’s perceived lack of respect for schedule strength.

We say all of that to get to the real point.

Maybe Lane Kiffin’s right.

Perhaps the mischievous Mississippi man had a point when he threw out a concept that didn’t look like winning lottery numbers.

It’s an idea not dissimilar to one suggested last December by this humble newsman.

Casagrande: The College Football Playoff is broken. Here’s how to fix it (from December)

Just pick the 16 best teams, regardless of conference affiliation.

Perhaps the 13-member committee isn’t the best single arbiter for selecting these 16 but they could get some help. Kiffin said they could use “some indexes,” presumably weighted publicly available computer models, to help inform the group that wouldn’t be operating without oversight.

“You’ve seen some say we should go back to the old way of the BCS,” Sankey said Monday. “You know is there some kind of in-between between human and machines that can do analytics.”

Using last year’s committee rankings, the SEC would have had six of the 16 teams, as Andy Staples of On3 pointed out. Alabama would have faced Ohio State in an opening-round game.

Sounds fun.

Would have done monster TV numbers.

Money in pockets.

No congressional hearings.

Too simple? Perhaps.

Nothing important is done quickly and painlessly. But the deeper we get into these leaked back-room proposals, the more convoluted they get.

Maybe there’s something in the middle that could work.

Because it feels like we’re overthinking this.

Michael Casagrande is a reporter for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @ByCasagrande or on Facebook.