Judging by reports this week on the not-too-distant future of the College Football Playoff, it looks like the Big Ten and SEC will still allow cameo appearances by their peers in a proposed 16-team extravaganza; the winner may qualify for an NFC wild card; and spring football will be moot.
Perhaps not so coincidentally, the president’s commission on college sports was put on hold this week. Easy to see why.
Global conflicts and a worldwide financial crisis are probably easier fixes.
Before going any further, a mea culpa: when I asked what Texas A&M could have been thinking when it left the warm-and-fuzzy Big 12 for the cutthroat SEC, then repeated the same complaint when Texas and Oklahoma followed suit? Turns out they may have had an inkling of the power the Big Ten and SEC would wield once the NCAA caved. My bad. Didn’t see it coming.
Then again, I didn’t see mullets making a comeback, either.
Must need a new prescription.
Going into deliberations that will continue next month, seems like it would have been enough if the power brokers had simply stopped after tweaking last year’s 12-team format. Which is reportedly all that will happen this fall. No byes for conference champs unless they finish at the top of the committee’s rankings. Seems about right, too.
Even if Cam Skattebo made a pretty good argument against it when he all but pulled the Peach Bowl down around Texas’ ears.
The new concept won’t be as confusing as last year’s in the debut of the 12-team format. Conference champs will still get in even if they’re not ranked in the top 12, but they’ll fill in at the bottom of the bracket. They won’t vault to the top.
Of course, tweaking a format that had been in effect only a year wasn’t enough. Not when the motto of one of the power brokers is, “It just means more.” More money, that is. This was always so, but especially now that everyone from the provost on down is trying to figure out how to pay quarterbacks and defensive tackles and first-rate deep snappers.
Overshadowing the news of the new seeding format was the looming prospect for 2026. The Big Ten and SEC, already regretful for not demanding a quota of automatic qualifiers in the 12-team format, is talking about bigger changes.
First, they blew right past the concept of a 14-team tournament, which, if bloated, was still doable. Leagues could still have conference title games the first week of December, Army-Navy would still have the second Saturday to themselves, and the playoffs would roll on from there.
But just as they went from four to 12, the thinking went, why go from 12 to 14 when you can squeeze in 16, pocket a few extra million and still have time to do some Christmas shopping online at halftime?
According to multiple reports, one proposal under a 14-team format would have been a 4-4-2-2-1 model, with the Big Ten and SEC getting four apiece, the Big 12 and ACC getting a pair and the highest-ranked Group of 6 school getting a bid along with an at-large school. Right out of the gate, the Big Ten and SEC would receive twice as many bids as the Big 12 and ACC.
Even if the Big Ten and SEC would have averaged more than five invites historically in a 16-team field, it’s a little hard to stomach making it official.
Another proposal in a 16-team format: a 4-4-3-3-1 model in which the Big 12 and ACC would get three teams apiece. Better, right? Except it could come with a stipulation. The Big 12 and ACC teams would have to be ranked in the top 18, a caveat that wouldn’t necessarily apply to a Big Ten or SEC school that could receive a bid instead if the Big 12 or ACC didn’t qualify.
Here, again, I should probably apologize for my lack of vision. The 12-team format was flawed last year, no question. Led to a couple too many blowouts, the Peach Bowl barnburner notwithstanding. But the expanded tournament also kept the second half of the season interesting for fan bases that would have been out of the running in the old four-team format.
Yet elements of the management committee couldn’t be satisfied once they realized they could take a good thing and wring every last buck from it. Which is the American way, except it comes with consequences at the expense of athletes.
Because leagues are too big for round-robin schedules, one league title game isn’t enough. Now they’ll have multiple play-in games, too. More games mean more money. But it also means more athletes playing more games. You might argue they’re paid to do it, but teams playing for the national title will compete in 17 games.
If you think it won’t become a negotiating point with athletes, you must have slept through the last couple years.
One last thing: If you really want to know, even a presidential commission can’t fix this mess. Who polices it? Who enforces the findings? The NCAA had decades of experience and couldn’t make anything stick even when it had the stomach. Something tells me Miss Terry won’t be happy with Nick Saban playing Barney Fife. The big boys are running the show now. Be glad if your school was smart enough to see this coming.
Twitter/X: @KSherringtonDMN
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