Big Ten sticks to controversial College Football Playoff plan despite backlash

Decision makers in the Big Ten are sticking with a controversial plan to redesign the College Football Playoff unless it can get scheduling concessions from the SEC, according to a report from On3 Sports’ Brett McMurphy.

The conference, led by commissioner Tony Petitti, will not change its support for the four auto bid format without the SEC adding a ninth conference game to its schedule.

And because the SEC is not expected to adopt a ninth game and make that concession, the College Football Playoff will likely not expand to 16 teams in 2026.

The plan the Big Ten backs would award itself and the SEC four automatic qualifiers each, and the ACC and Big 12 two bids each in a so-called “4-4-2-2-1” model.

But now it appears the SEC is now leaning towards the other option on the table, a so-called “5-11” format that features five places reserved for conference champions and 11 at-large bids in a 16-team format chosen by the selection committee.

That would run in line with just about everyone else across college football, including the ACC and Big 12, which openly called out the other plan as clearly unfair.

One other constituency that pushed back against the four auto bids apparently came from within the SEC, as the conference’s football coaches were of the general opinion that any system of multiple guaranteed spots contradicted the ideal of on-field competition.

The thinking from the Big Ten is that SEC teams would get what amounts to an artificial bump in their win-loss column by playing a perceived pushover team late in the season, while Big Ten schools still have to play a conference opponent.

There is “no chance” the Big Ten would support the 5-11 format if the SEC were to gain a perceived advantage to receive more at-large bids in an expanded playoff by playing more non-conference games late in the year, McMurphy reported.

Anticipating that line of argument, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey affirmed the conference’s quality of competition as a justification for not adding another intra-league game to the schedule.

“I handed out a bunch of stats and created a stir and dust in this show,” Sankey said, referring to a document the SEC created and circulated during spring meetings that purports to prove the “gauntlet” of the conference’s football schedule.

While the SEC will continue to mull the benefits and risks of adding a ninth conference football game, the general trend appears to be that the league wants to put it off.

“There’s a rigor here that is unique in the SEC,” Sankey said.

“We’re not lacking for quality competition among our 16 football teams, but we’re going to continue to evaluate whether increasing the number of conference football games is appropriate for us.”

(On3)

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