No more crazy playoff ideas. No more lone wolves.
The Big Ten set the bar this summer for College Football Playoff change, and the SEC just met and exceeded it.
Your move, Big Ten.
It’s time to see just how badly the Big Ten wants CFP expansion.
The SEC on Thursday, Aug. 22 made the first move to the center of the room, adding a ninth game to its annual conference schedule starting in 2026 — the one thing the Big Ten said it had to see before moving forward with CFP expansion.
The Big Ten has played nine conference games since 2016, and the SEC playing eight has been a sticking point between the super conferences.
The Big Ten claimed it had a more difficult road to the playoff by playing nine. The SEC countered with, well, “We’re the SEC, and you’re not.”
That all ended with the SEC’s long-awaited move to nine conference games.
There’s nothing left to argue now for the Big Ten. It wanted the SEC on a level playing field, and the SEC called the Big Ten’s bluff.
It not only moved to nine conference games, it kept a rule that forces league schools to schedule at least one non-conference game against a power conference opponent.
Now the future of College Football Playoff expansion rests with the Big Ten, which can agree to the 5-11 format that every other Bowl Subdivision conference favors – automatic qualifiers from the five highest-ranked conference champions, and 11 at-large teams – or it can continue down the road of obstruction.
By demanding a unrealistic 4-2-1-3 format (it’s too dumb to explain), or an expansion to 24 or 28 teams (speaking of dumb), the Big Ten will expose its true desire: increased revenue at the cost of others.
If the Big Ten still refuses the 5-11 format – which it said was more advantageous to the SEC because it could earn more at-large selections with an easier road of less conference games – it never cared about the SEC moving to nine games in the first place.
For years, the SEC has been seen as the college football boogeyman, the all-powerful conference that controlled all things on and off the field. The death of fun, even.
It recruited the best players, won the most championships, and got the most breaks by whatever postseason plan was in place (hello, Alabama). An embarrassment of riches no one could deny or overcome.
Until Michigan and Ohio State won back-to-back national titles the past two seasons, slowly pulling the SEC’s invincibility into question. The Big Ten then flexed and executed a power play, forcing the SEC to move off its eight-game conference schedule.
It even dragged the Big 12 into the fray, using the prop of the Big 12 playing nine conference games, too. So why couldn’t the SEC?
The Big Ten said it wanted everyone on the same page, including the ACC. Or maybe that was just another Alliance thing.
The next thing you know, SEC coaches left their conference spring meetings in May and declared their desire to play the Big Ten in non-conference games. As soon as possible.
And for the first time, there was real momentum to move to a nine-game league schedule. Even the longtime holdouts – Kentucky, the Mississippi schools, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, South Carolina – moved toward the inevitability of it all.
“They’ve won the last two national titles,” LSU coach Brian Kelly. “We need to play them, they’re on top now.”
But you know the old southern adage, the higher you get on the ladder, the more your ass shows. The Big Ten is now in danger of this power play blowing up in its lap.
In a perfect world, playoff strife ends quickly. The Big Ten sees the SEC’s move as genuine, and responds accordingly.
The 5-11 format passes, and college football moves to a 16-team CFP field beginning with the 2026 season.
It’s time to see how badly the Big Ten wants playoff expansion.
Or if it’s interested in showing more of its ass.
Matt Hayes is the senior national college football writer for USA TODAY Sports Network. Follow him on X at @MattHayesCFB.
