It appears that College Football is headed towards a 16-team playoff. While the Big Ten and SEC are currently on the same page when it comes to playoff expansion and changing College Football Playoff seeding, they’re too big of a powerhouse to maintain a tenable peace for the long term.
Competition drives industry, and TV rights are the name of the game. There must be competition so that every time the Big Ten and SEC go to perspective networks in order to achieve the next big TV deal, that offer exceeds the previous deal to the competitor.
However, it is still a battle of dominance, and entering the College Football Playoff drives branding, which drives viewership and so on. The Big Ten is going to want to stack as many teams as possible, but it also benefits by excluding as many SEC teams as they can.
Had college football had a 16-team playoff in 2025, the SEC would have included Alabama, Ole Miss and South Carolina. Illinois would have been the odd man out despite all four teams sharing three losses. That’s SEC bias.
However, what if Illinois had two losses? They could have jumped the three SEC teams. Due to their scheduling, they will have multiple three-loss teams attempting to make the playoff.
The Big Ten and ACC could come to an agreement to backdoor the SEC by manufacturing schedules that mathematically get more than two-loss ACC and Big Ten teams in over three-loss SEC programs.
The conferences could schedule marquee games during big SEC weekends to get into their viewership and then soften each participant’s conference schedule so a potential loss doesn’t hurt them in the rankings.
If 2025 had a 16-team playoff, Miami would have also been included. Syracuse could have made it that way as well. If the Big Ten could have filled those three spots that would’ve been given to the SEC, Miami would have been with Clemson and Georgia as the only teams in the south to make the playoffs. Great for branding, great for recruiting.
It would take tremendous cooperation, sacrifice and scheming, but never doubt the ambition of man. The Big Ten and ACC may manipulate their schedules to screw over the SEC in viewership and playoff spots.
Each spot is worth millions, and for the ACC, the SEC is their direct competitor and the SEC has threatened to annex Miami and Florida State in the past. The ACC’s big money schools are primarily located in deep SEC territory. Florida State, Miami, Clemson. The ACC getting those programs in the playoffs consistently while having the SEC lose prestige because their teams aren’t would be reason enough for the ACC.
The Big Ten gets to play historic Northeast Rivalries and big-time games to compete against the SEC game of the week. They could also get more Big Ten teams into the playoff.
For UCLA, that would help it and the West Coast as Cal and Stanford would prevent extra cross-country travel for all by playing each other.
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