SEC/Big Ten Cutting the Big 12 Out?

We couldn’t even make it 48 hours past the end of the college football season before the SEC and Big Ten started plotting and scheming again. 

Yahoo’s Ross Dellenger reports that the two conferences are holding a second joint meeting of athletic directors next month. They announced a formal partnership last spring. 

One of the main discussion topics will be the College Football Playoff structure in 2026. That’s when a new era of the playoff begins, and unanimous approval for changes is no longer required. 

In essence, the next era of the playoff will be ruled by SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey and Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petiti. 

Unsurprisingly, the Big Ten and SEC will restart their push for expanding the playoff to 14 teams and granting each of their leagues four automatic bids every year. 

This idea leaked last year and was met with a wave of public opposition, so it was temporarily tabled. Apparently, Petiti and Sankey have some shame after all… 

…just not enough shame to keep them from pushing forward with the idea after a couple of months passed. 

Go ahead and count on the playoff expanding to 14. They’re going to get what they want. 

The most likely expansion scenario would give the Big 12 and ACC two automatic bids each, and the Group of Five would get an auto-bid for its highest-ranked conference champion. 

It’s not the worst deal in the world for the Big 12 to come away with a guarantee for two teams in the field every year. We saw how brutally BYU was treated in the at-large discussion this season. 

If the 4+4+2+2+1+1 format had been in place this year, Alabama and Iowa State would have also qualified for the field. 

But the idea that the big, bad SEC doesn’t need to go out and actually earn its four sports is ridiculous. If you think it's a given that they would hit that number every year even without the auto-bids, I present to you this year as evidence to the contrary. 

Honestly, the more concerning part about this meeting and the partnership between the two leagues is their continued discussion of a scheduling agreement. 

Dellenger reports that it might extend beyond just non-conference matchups. They’re looking to overhaul their postseason and ditch bowl agreements for more games against each other. 

The only real way to earn credibility as a non-Power Two league is to pick off wins against the SEC and Big Ten, and they’re actively looking for ways to shut the rest of the college football world out from even having that opportunity. 

A looming issue for Sankey and Petiti is that they would likely face an antitrust lawsuit if they ever tried to create their own playoff that excluded everyone else. 

But they can still get close to that reality and avoid any legal issues with a playoff that gives them at least eight combined bids every year and very few non-conference or bowl matchups with the leagues they deem beneath them. 

None of this is surprising, but it’s definitely pretty lame. The Big 12 better take full advantage of any playoff opportunities against the Power Two. 

If only Arizona State hadn’t brought the house on 4th and 13…

What You Need to Know

• Arizona State has the win of the week in Big 12 men’s hoops. The Sun Devils beat West Virginia in Morgantown 65-57 for a shocking victory. ASU had lost four straight and recently got dropped from ESPN’s latest Bracketology update. They have another big opportunity with a home game against Iowa State on Saturday. 

• Speaking of Bracketology, eight Big 12 teams are still projected in the tournament field, and Cincinnati is currently the last team out. It’s poignant to note that despite me writing about the “struggles” of Kansas this year relative to the program’s lofty expectations, the Jayhawks are a projected two-seed and won by double digits in Ft. Worth on Wednesday. 

• Coach Prime and Colorado got hit with a minor NCAA recruiting violation. Apparently, the NCAA still has some level of power these days. Who knew? Prime mentioned the name of high school recruit Julian Lewis on his live-streamed coaches show before Lewis had actually signed with the Buffaloes. They’ll lose four in-person recruiting days this spring for the self-reported offense. 

• BYU football’s defense got a big boost this week with the return of linebacker Jack Kelly. He announced on social media that he’s skipping the draft to return to Provo. Kelly had 50 tackles, five sacks, two forced fumbles, and an interception last season. 

• On3 ranked the top ten quarterbacks for the 2025 college football season, and Arizona State’s Sam Leavitt took the top spot. 247 Sports’ Brad Crawford also released a list of the top signal callers, and he had Leavitt at number four. Expectations will be high next year in Tempe. 

• The Big 12 had the two most-watched bowl games this year outside of the College Football Playoff, according to a release from the conference. This is a pretty impressive list of accolades for the league this year.

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