College Football Playoff expansion appears to be imminent as the SEC and Big Ten look to use their combined power to redesign the format to their advantage.
While nothing has been made public, the SEC and Big Ten held private talks recently in which they reportedly mulled over the idea of rewarding themselves with four automatic bids each.
And former head coach Urban Meyer believes they’ll get them. You don’t need to be a detective to figure out why: they’ll make more money.
“I made a phone call when I saw this and it is going to happen. This is not maybe,” Meyer said on The Triple Option podcast.
“Remember, in the fall that the commissioner of the SEC and the commissioner of the Big Ten got together. Those are the big dogs and it really is unchallengeable. So what drives the big dogs?
“College football is now synonymous with money. It is money… You get $4 million to qualify, $6 million for the semi.”
Even without the automatic bids engineering the result, the SEC and Big Ten were well represented in the first-ever 12-team College Football Playoff.
The SEC got three teams into the field, while the Big Ten got four, including the national champion in Ohio State.
But if the field was 14 teams, the SEC would’ve also had Alabama in the mix.
Brass in the SEC and Big Ten have been holding their own meetings outside the formal College Football Playoff structure, indicating the strength they have in the post-realignment era.
And after the 2025 season, when the College Football Playoff signs a new deal and no longer requires a unanimous vote to change the format, it’s expected the two conferences will decisively wield their power to fashion the postseason in their image.
That change could also include how teams are seeded in the playoff going forward, as the SEC and Big Ten prefer a “straight seeding” model that simply reflects the committee’s final rankings.
“The seeding, I would not be surprised if they adjust it this year,” Meyer said.
“But for sure, I can imagine Commissioner Sankey [of the SEC] and [Big Ten commissioner Tony] Petitti at the Big Ten just said, ‘You know what? We’re going to make the decisions here.’
“I know this is pretty bold, but it’s probably not conversation. It’s, ‘We’re going to demand this. We are going to do this or we take the ball and go play.’ … I can promise you there’s going to be four SEC teams in the playoff.”
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