When Will SEC and Big Ten Greed End?

The SEC and Big Ten are getting even greedier. 

Earlier this week, Yahoo!’s Ross Dellenger reported that the SEC and Big Ten will force the rest of college football to accept giving them four automatic bids each to the playoff every year starting in 2026. 

Now, Dellenger says they’re coming for the auto byes in the playoff in 2025—the same byes that went to Boise State and Arizona State last season. 

Here’s what Dellenger said about the only firm decision made by the two leagues at their joint meeting in New Orleans this week. 

The two leagues will push playoff executives to alter the seeding of the upcoming postseason, aligning the seeds based directly on the selection committee’s rankings. Such a move would eliminate the rule that grants first-round byes and the top four seeds to the four highest-ranked conference champions.

It’s pretty simple to see why they want this. They don’t think anybody outside of the Big Ten or SEC could possibly deserve a first-round bye. Never mind that Arizona State was one play and/or one bad call away from beating SEC runner-up Texas in the College Football Playoff quarterfinals last year. 

Admittedly, awarding first-round byes to conference champions made more sense when the current playoff contract was first conceived. Giving byes to conference champions seems logical when you have five relatively equal power conferences. 

That was before the SEC stole Texas and Oklahoma, and the Big Ten wrecked the Pac-12. After conference realignment, the playoff structure became more disjointed. But whose fault is that?

You guessed it! That would be the SEC and Big Ten, aka the same people trying desperately to make the change to account for their greed. 

I always thought the culture in the South was all about being a man of your word and owning the consequences of your actions. Apparently, that doesn’t apply in the college football boardroom. 

The good news is the Big 12, ACC, and Group of Five schools have all the power in this situation. The 2025 playoff still falls under the current contract, which means major changes like this still require unanimous approval. The decision-making power doesn’t fully shift to the SEC and Big Ten until the 2026 season. 

The big boys aren’t likely to get their way on this one, and Sankey even admitted as much on the Paul Finebaum Show. 

Perhaps the Big 12, ACC, and Group of Five could negotiate a deal to get better terms in the next playoff contract, but I have a hard time seeing what that could realistically be. You’re not going to get a significant concession from the SEC and Big Ten on what will be a six-year contract in exchange for a substantial concession that lasts only one season. 

So, if it’s not likely to happen, why is this a story worth writing about? Because it shows the incredible hubris that SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey and Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petiti have right now. 

They already dominate the other leagues in TV revenue. They’re about to more than triple their College Football Playoff revenue starting next year. They’ve guaranteed themselves at least double the playoff bids of the Big 12 and ACC every year in the playoff moving forward. 

Yet they can’t stand one slight disadvantage for one freaking year? In the words of the great Kelly Kapoor:

These are poor, short-sighted leaders making decisions that are causing irreparable damage to the sport. And you don’t have to just take my word for it. 

I can’t wait to see what the Sankey-Petiti Dream Team comes up with next. 

What You Need to Know

• Texas Tech slipped a game further behind Houston in the Big 12 title race this week with a 69-66 upset loss at TCU on Wednesday. Horned Frogs guard Noah Reynolds scored the last seven points of the game to finish off the Red Raiders. Ft. Worth has been a house of horrors for Tech in multiple sports lately. 

• The Cougars still have a two-game lead on Arizona after cruising past Arizona State 80-65 to extend the nation’s longest active road winning streak to 12 games. Houston gets two big tests in three days, though, with games against Iowa State and Texas Tech on Saturday and Monday. 

• Did Bill Self and Kansas finally hit rock bottom on Tuesday? BYU beat the Jayhawks by 34 in Provo, which tied the worst margin of defeat in the Self era. As if that isn’t concerning enough for Kansas fans, Self had an eye-opening quote in the post-game press conference that won’t make anybody feel better.

• More media criticism of the SEC and Big Ten’s push for four auto bids in the next version of the College Football Playoff has been rolling in this week. CBS Sports’ Dennis Dodd worries the sport might turn into professional wrestling, and The Athletic’s Stewart Mandel says the arrogance of the two leagues is on full display. 

• Don’t expect Texas Tech to have any issues with NIL or revenue sharing anytime soon. Red Raider mega booster and Matador Club NIL collective founder Cody Campbell sold his oil and natural gas company this week for $4.1 billion. Campbell financed most of the Red Raiders $10 million transfer portal class this offseason. 

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