The College Football Playoff is speeding toward yet another inflection point. As the Big Ten and SEC try to muscle for more control, the organization’s mission for continued unanimity appears outdated.
One hurdle was cleared Tuesday with the long-expected adoption of the 5+7 model in the upcoming 12-team playoff: the five highest-ranked conference champions and the seven at-large bids for the next seven highest-ranked teams. That model could have been approved earlier if not for Washington State president Kirk Schulz, representing the two remaining members of the Pac-12, providing the lone dissenting voice among the CFP Board of Managers.
Two schools left behind in conference realignment, begging for help in the cold of the Pacific Northwest, with nothing more than the Pac-12 trademark and a scheduling partnership with the Mountain West Conference, held up legislation within the CFP for one month. Their argument? The Pac-12, with only two programs, wanted to retain the power (voting and revenue) it previously held as a 12-team conference beyond 2026.
It sounds ludicrous. Two teams holding up the entire sport? Yes, it happened, and though it took time, common sense — business sense — prevailed over empathy.
Now imagine what the two commissioners overseeing 34 programs in the wealthiest conferences in the sport could do to the system if they choose to flex their muscles in the board room. That’s the next chapter for the CFP, which only assured its new model through the 2025 season with its vote Tuesday and faces more changes for 2026 and beyond.
There is a fight for power, and a $7 billion pile of money is at the center of the room. And now that the big boys are growing, they want more money in their pockets. The Big Ten and SEC want to restructure CFP’s payouts to reward them — not the ACC or Big 12 — bigger paydays. The Power 2 also wants multiple guaranteed spots in the new playoff with automatic qualifiers starting in 2026, according to Yahoo Sports.
That’s not to say the Big Ten or SEC will bully their way to get what they want, but the reality is that the biggest and best conferences draw the most eyes (higher TV ratings) and also produce the best teams. If the CFP was a 12-team field last season, seven teams from the Big Ten and SEC would have been in the field in December. In the newly expanded SEC and Big Ten, 11 of the 12 teams in the CFP would have hailed from the Power 2. The Big Ten and SEC have valid arguments and will likely get their way soon. Again, it just makes business sense, even within the make-believe world of competitive equity.
So, why are two automatic qualifiers needed for each conference? Guaranteed money, of course, and more power in the board room. The days of the CFP committees requiring unanimity to pass legislation will likely end when the organization is restructured. There will be tiers in the new CFP power structure, and the Big Ten and SEC will sit at the head of the table.
Competitively speaking, maintaining the illusion of equity requires the 5+7 format to remain. However, Big Ten commissioner Tony Pettiti will argue that expanding the playoff to 14 or 16 teams in 2026 is a remedy for everyone. Those conversations will be had among the CFP’s committee and board of managers. Such a change seems plausible as the balance of power shifts within the CFP, and all parties try to find a middle ground.
Then there are the never-ending challenges for the NCAA as the organization faces lawsuits challenging its power tied to the transfer portal and name, image, and likeness. The NCAA has proposed a plan for universities to pay players (Project DI), but not all programs are created equal, and new guidelines will only further fracture the world of haves and have-nots.
Meanwhile, the Big Ten and SEC have formed an advisory board to brainstorm solutions relating to the NCAA’s governance but have opted not to invite the ACC or Big 12. Predictably and understandably, red flags were raised across the country despite assurances from SEC commissioner Greg Sankey, who told Yahoo! Sports that the advisory board was formed to “benefit everybody in the ecosystem.”
Still, it’s another step toward the inevitable. This isn’t a matter of whether the Big Ten and SEC will break away from the CFP and/or NCAA. The SEC and Big Ten are tired of the cumbersome process of getting things done within the current system, which failed miserably over the last four years to keep pace with the changes across collegiate athletics since states passed NIL laws and the transfer portal opened the system to new challenges.
The Big Ten and SEC have stepped ahead of the pack, and as difficult as it might be for some to swallow, perhaps it’s time we allow them to navigate college athletics into a drastically different landscape.
Brandon Marcello is a national college football reporter for 247Sports. You can follow him on X (@bmarcello).
