SEC and Big Ten Cutting Out the Big 12

Guess what? The SEC and Big Ten are back on their BS. 

After initially pitching the idea of each league getting four automatic bids to a 14-team playoff starting in 2026, the two leagues backed off after a wave of pushback. 

It turns out they were just waiting for the noise to blow over and the season to distract everyone’s attention. 

According to Heather Dinich at ESPN, SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey, Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petiti, and league commissioners will meet next week to discuss a possible scheduling partnership, automatic bids in the playoff, and the playoff format starting in 2026. 

Not only are they trying to guarantee themselves a ridiculous amount of playoff access, but they’re also looking at locking the Big 12 and ACC out of playing non-conference games against them. 

Eventually, the SEC will likely have a nine-game league schedule like the Big Ten. Add in one non-conference game per year against the other league and an FCS or G5 buy game or two, and there isn’t much room left for the Big 12 or ACC. 

With strength of schedule obviously a huge component of how teams are selected for the playoff moving forward, the Power Two have found a way to more or less rig the system in their favor. They’ll get more automatic bids and guarantees that 8-4 in their league will look better than 9-3 or 10-2 in the Big 12/ACC. 

Interestingly, they also want to ditch the playoff selection committee entirely. That honestly made me chuckle. 

When has a subjective selection committee ever not benefitted the SEC or Big Ten?

It’s impossible not to be increasingly bothered by the direction of the playoff and college football in general, with Czar Sankey leading the way.

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Week Six Primer

I’ll be previewing games every week based on a scale of one to five Yormarks. Five Yormarks is the most entertaining and enticing game possible, while one Yormark is a snooze-fest. 

Here’s your week six primer!

Five Yormarks

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4 Yormarks

Texas Tech at Arizona (-6) – 10:00 Fox

If a Big 12 game in Tuscon happens and nobody is awake to see it, did it really happen? 

I kid, I kid. But this is the blessing and the curse of the new Big 12 and its place in the world. The league's best game of the week won’t kick off until 10:00 Central/11:00 Eastern. 

The Red Raiders and Wildcats both gave their seasons new life after sluggish starts. Arizona physically manhandled Utah in Salt Lake City last week, while Tech ripped off three straight home wins after a blowout loss to Washington State. 

Texas Tech is a shootout waiting to happen. Incredibly, the Red Raiders are first in the league in scoring offense and last in scoring defense. That’s a recipe for an exciting game, but not for defending Arizona quarterback Noah Fifita and wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan. 

Tech fancies itself a Big 12 contender, even after a near-loss to Abilene Christian and a blowout loss at Wazzu. In fairness, when star running back Tahj Brooks has played, they’re undefeated. Winning a game like this on the road would get the Red Raiders legitimate consideration as a threat to win the league. 

Fifita is one of the most composed quarterbacks in the country, and it’s tough to have a more impressive drive than what he had last week to put the game away at Utah. I’d imagine his eyes are lighting up watching the worst pass defense in the league on film this week. 

Arizona was, in many ways, a one-man show before the Utah game. McMillan might legitimately be the best receiver in the country, but they didn’t look like a very complete team. That changed last week. 

Their defense was more physical than the Utes, Quali Conley stepped up to catch 14 passes, and the ground game averaged 6.5 yards per carry. If head coach Brent Brennan can continue to get well-rounded performances like that, watch out. 

This is a game the Wildcats can’t afford to lose at home if they want to match the ten-win season they had last year. 

West Virginia at Oklahoma State (-3) – 3:00 ESPN2

It’s easy to doubt Mike Gundy right now. It feels eerily similar to September of last year after the Pokes followed up a tumultuous offseason with a 26-point home loss to South Alabama. 

We all know how Gundy responded to the noise that surrounded him then. Can he pull another rabbit out of his mullet this time around? It won't be easy with a non-existent running game, a limited quarterback, and a middle-of-the-road at best defense. 

Forget a Big 12 title run; OSU just needs a win to provide a shot of confidence this week. 

Assuming Gundy defies Oklahoma State Twitter’s wishes and sticks with Alan Bowman at quarterback, the opportunity is there to carve up a struggling Mountaineer pass defense. 

And what, exactly, do we make of WVU at the moment? 

The Mountaineers got some good vibes back with a thrilling comeback against Kansas and had an off week to prep for the Pokes. 

WVU was considered a Big 12 contender to start the year, and they may slide back into that conversation with a win in Stillwater. A loss at OSU with Iowa State and K-State looming could send Neal Brown’s squad back into a spiral before you can say “country roads.” 

This will be a fascinating game to watch. My final word of caution: doubt Mike Gundy at your own risk. 

3 Yormarks

UCF (-2.5) at Florida – 6:45 SEC Network

It kills me to keep this in the three Yormark category, but the game has lost some luster in the past few weeks. 

The Florida piece of the equation is obvious. Billy Napier’s Gators are a lousy football team, at least by SEC standards. 

Miami ran them off their home field to start the season, and Texas A&M handled them in the swamp with a backup quarterback. Napier is a dead man walking. Everybody knows it’s only a matter of time until he is fired, especially with Tennessee, Georgia, Texas, Ole Miss, and LSU still on the schedule. 

But the truly disappointing part about this matchup losing some steam is what happened to UCF last week. The Knights brought a record crowd to Fox’s Big Noon Kickoff, only to get run out of the Bounce House by Coach Prime and Colorado. 

It was no fluke. The Buffs were the better team for all sixty minutes. 

Instead of an unbeaten, ranked UCF team going into the Swamp to get some laughs off at the expense of a once-proud in-state rival, the Knights now need a bounce-back game to get their confidence back. 

Florida’s defense is 107th in success rate against the run, so UCF’s potent rushing attack should be able to move the ball. And quarterback KJ Jefferson has experience in the Swamp – he won there last year with Arkansas. 

The key will be avoiding a repeat of the four turnover day they had last week. 

Kansas at Arizona State (-2.5) – 7:00 ESPN2

If somebody told you before the season that KU would be an underdog at Arizona State, is there any chance you would have believed them?

That’s the reality after the Jayhawks' fourth straight loss, which left head coach Lance Leipold stewing about officials and fans continuing a campaign to get rid of offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes. 

We shouldn’t discount the Sun Devils’ role in this, too. Head coach Kenny Dillingham has a surprisingly competitive team that came out of a tricky non-conference schedule 3-0 before a relatively competitive loss in Lubbock. 

In other words, they’ve earned the right to be favored here.

This is a great running back matchup with Devin Neal and Cam Skattebo going head-to-head, but as always with Kansas, they need more from quarterback Jalon Daniels to get their first Big 12 win. 

There are yards to be had for ASU quarterback Sam Leavitt against the Kansas pass defense, and the Sun Devils’ run defense matches up pretty well on paper with a strong KU ground game. 

Baylor at Iowa State (-12) – 6:30 Fox 

Iowa State is in prime position to finally break through with a ten-win season and another Big 12 Championship Game berth. The Cyclones don’t play BYU, the Big 12’s only other unbeaten team, and they avoid Utah and K-State until late November. 

The task at hand will be staying focused and taking care of business, which they did to an extent at Houston last week. You certainly can’t fault the defense for pitching a shutout. 

Matt Campbell knows he’ll need more from his offense to reach the promised land. 

The prevailing narrative in Waco surrounds the flaming hot seat of head coach Dave Aranda after yet another power four home loss to BYU last week. 

It’s tough to see Aranda making it to next year if he can’t right the ship enough to get the Bears to a bowl game. 

The good news is this team probably isn’t as far off as some think. They’re a hail mary away from 3-2 and seem to have found some new life with Sawyer Robertson at quarterback. 

A key for the Bears on Saturday will be establishing budding star Bryson Washington. It’s tough to find many weaknesses in a Jon Heacock defense, but if there is one, it’s a relatively pedestrian Iowa State run defense. 

2 Yormarks

Houston at TCU (-16.5) – 6:30 ESPN (Friday)

I have an official policy here at Open For Business: no game involving a team that hasn’t scored in conference play shall be rated higher than two Yormarks. 

I don’t mean to be too hard on the Cougars, but their offense has had a rough time in shutout losses to Cincinnati and Iowa State, to put it mildly. Houston is officially last nationally in scoring offense at just 10.4 points per game. 

Head coach Willie Fritz says the quarterback job is still up for grabs. Expect to see both Donovan Smith and Zeon Chriss again. Fritz says you can also count on a simplified playbook this week. 

The good news for Houston is that TCU’s defense isn’t exactly setting the world on fire. 

Only one Big 12 team allows more than the Horned Frogs 31 points per game, though some of that can be attributed to their offense and special teams giving up a bevy of touchdowns to SMU. 

TCU’s offense is on the opposite end of the spectrum. The Frogs score nearly 39 points per game and have one of the most exciting quarterbacks in the Big 12 – Josh Hoover quietly leads the league in passing yards. Fittingly, his top target, wide receiver Jack Bech, is the Big 12 leader in receiving yards.

Having an old Southwest Conference rivalry back on Friday will be fun. These two played every year from 1976 to 1995.

1 Yormark

None

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