The appraised quality of a group photo typically varies by individual.
An individual having a good hair day thinks it’s a great photo. An individual caught with a finger in the nose or with their fly open doesn’t.
Proposals about the future of the College Football Playoff are similar. Under recent and upcoming proposals, Southeastern Conference and Big Ten members look good. Big 12, ACC and “Group of Five” members... not so much.
Earlier this week, Yahoo’s Ross Dellenger reported that officials from the SEC and Big Ten met in New Orleans to discuss playoff possibilities and a few other issues.
Basically, the two most powerful conferences want the College Football Playoff field to expand from 12 teams to 14 or 16. Everybody can get behind that.
However, they also want four teams from their conferences to get automatic berths into the playoff field.
They also want to change the seeding process. Under the current format, teams from four of the five conference champions (SEC, Big Ten, ACC, Big 12 and highest-ranked “Group of Five”) are awarded the top-four seeds.
That’s significant because those teams get a bye to the quarterfinals. That’s significant because teams automatically advancing to the quarterfinals receive $8 million.
The other conferences would no doubt object, but the SEC and Big Ten have a point.
Last season, teams from the Big 12 (Arizona State), ACC (SMU and Clemson) and “Group of Five” (Boise State) were 0-4 in the playoff. Yet, Boise State was the No. 3 seed, and Arizona State was the No. 4 seed.
Don’t be surprised if the SEC and Big Ten ultimately get what they want. They’re the strongest conferences. College athletics seems to be taking on a Darwinian evolution: Only the strongest survive.
The obvious question here is Texas A&M’s position on these issues. Director of Athletics Trev Alberts was unavailable for comment, but surely the Aggies would wholeheartedly agree to the proposals, especially the four automatic qualifiers to the playoff.
Just five years ago, the Aggies were 8-1 against an all-SEC schedule and had a strong case to be included in the then-four-team playoff.
Instead, Ohio State and Notre Dame we selected to join Alabama and Clemson in the field, even though A&M had a better resume.
Four auto-qualifiers from the SEC will help teams like A&M from being overlooked by a biased committee influenced by “bigger brands.”
If other conferences object to the proposals, the SEC and Big Ten can threaten to break away from the NCAA, form their own league and invite some of the most attractive programs from the other conferences (hello, Florida State, Clemson, North Carolina and Virginia).
That may not be best for college football overall, but it would be lucrative for the SEC and Big Ten.
Speaking of lucrative deals, there are more indicators that the SEC will adopt a nine-game format instead of its current eight-game model to its conference schedule as early as 2026. More meaningful games may convince ESPN to sweeten the pot on the conference’s TV deal.
Of course, if the SEC goes to a nine-conference, that would make every SEC team’s schedule that much more challenging. The SEC would argue that’s another reason the conference should be guaranteed four teams in the College Football Playoff.
A stronger schedule in a strong conference would help make a strong argument.
