SEC Scared of the Big 12?

The kids these days love to talk about vibes. Stats and results are fine, but what really matters? The vibes.

Well, my friends, the vibes this week have been absolutely immaculate—at least if you love college football and don’t want to see it gutted by unadulterated SEC, Big Ten, and TV network greed. 

Let’s start with Nick Saban doing some serious backpedaling on the Paul Finebaum Show this week.

After last week’s news that Saban was set to become co-chair of the new presidential commission on college sports, he used his appearance with Finebaum to…completely downplay the entire idea.

According to Saban, the problems in college sports are "obvious" and don't require a big commission to solve.

So let’s ask the obvious question:

Why would he use the SEC’s loudest megaphone to publicly shrug off what should be a massive honor for a retired coach?

I have a theory.

Saban and the SEC are spooked.

Specifically, by the idea of sharing that co-chair title with Cody Campbell, the Big 12’s very own billionaire megabooster. (If you missed last week’s newsletter on his rising influence, you can catch up here.)

Now, Saban and Campbell actually agree on a lot:

• End the different state NIL laws

• Avoid turning athletes into employees

• Keep NIL alive, but manageable

But here’s the key difference:

Campbell is pushing for a model where Power Four schools combine their media rights into one unified TV deal, instead of each conference negotiating separately.

That’s the core of Project Rudy, a proposal built around 70 teams. Saban, on the other hand, wants a 40-team cutoff. Wonder why.

SEC-based Josh Pate succinctly laid out how Campbell’s model would improve college sports overall while limiting the SEC and Big Ten’s chokehold on it:

What started as a casual conversation between President Trump and Saban now seems to have spun into something the SEC never saw coming.

I don’t think Saban expected Campbell, a man with a direct line to the president, per Yahoo’s Ross Dellenger, to end up sitting at the same table.

And I definitely don’t think the SEC expected the Big 12 to have a legitimate hand in shaping the future of college football.

Now, it looks like SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey is sending his most iconic figure (Saban) to the league’s most powerful platform (The Finebaum Show) to try to kill the commission before it grows legs.

They’re trying to put the toothpaste back in the tube.

One problem.

That Crest is already smeared across the sink, and it’s not going back in.

As if that weren’t enough of a blow to the SEC, the ACC also stood tall this week, leading the pushback against the SEC and Big Ten’s plan to claim twice as many CFP auto-bids as the other leagues.

That story is far from over, and next week, I’ll dig into a key ally the ACC and Big 12 have in their fight.

In the meantime, if you want more on what Saban’s walk-back really means for the Big 12, I break it all down in my latest YouTube video:

What You Need to Know

• Yahoo!’s Ross Dellenger has another great article about the fight over the format of the College Football Playoff in 2026 and beyond. The ACC is now pushing back on getting stuck with only two autobids while the SEC and Big Ten each have four. Will the Big 12 join them in fighting this publicly?

• Dellenger also says that under the proposed revenue-sharing era rules, 70% of booster NIL deals from the past four years would not be allowed moving forward. These deals will now have to be deemed “fair market value.” If you’re lost, here’s a good primer to get caught up. 

• How many games do the sports books in Las Vegas think your team will win this year? Vegas released the Big 12 football win total over/unders this week. One team with a future Hall of Fame coach is picked last in the league. 

• CFBudge compiled all of the post-spring Top 25 rankings to create a consensus college football Top 25. Five Big 12 teams made the cut, including one team in the top ten. 

• Colorado head coach Deion Sanders is getting his own Netflix show. The streaming giant announced this week that the series will kick off in 2026.

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