College Football Playoff Format Proposals Have Been 'Preposterous,' Leaving Coaches To Call Out Big Ten, SEC
Another week has passed, and the NCAA is once again on its heels when it comes to keeping power in this ever-changing landscape of college athletics. One minute we're discussing how to regulate NIL, and the next minute we're contemplating the ramifications of decisions made by the NCAA.
It's turned into a neverending story, with new chapters being written on what seems like a daily basis. The latest chapter to the downfall of the NCAA came on Friday, when President Charlie Baker announced that he has told his enforcement staff to pause all investigations pertaining to NIL violations.
This move alone is the organization telling its members that they have absolutely no idea how to prevent a ‘pay-for-play’ system without being taken to court. The problem is that the NCAA never fully invested the time to put up guardrails around NIL, or ones that would actually make sense. We all knew where this was headed once it was introduced, and there are a number of case studies in the college landscape right now, if you look hard enough.
But what is now going to cause problems for the antiquated organization is the fight over the College Football Playoff, and how the NCAA fits into this chapter of the story.
It starts with the SEC and Big Ten compiling a list of member schools that dwarf other conferences when it comes to star power. When Greg Sankey added Texas and Oklahoma to the SEC, it was a move that would trigger an avalanche in college athletics. From that point, the Big Ten decided they needed to stack their own roster, adding USC and UCLA, then grabbing Oregon and Washington during the great realignment of 2023 that shifted the foundation of collegiate sports.
This leaves the Big 12 and the ACC to muster up enough energy to fight these two goliaths on a weekly basis, most importantly in discussions related to the College Football Playoff.
The shift that you are feeling right now is one that will have repercussions for schools that are not quite big enough to throw their weight around, which is the Group of Five. One of those schools that stand in the G-5 is UAB, with new coach Trent Dilfer.
Taking over a program who has found its way back into the college football world, thanks to former coach Bill Clark and the city of Birmingham, Dilfer is in a whole new world, right smack in the middle of Alabama. And one of those aspects of getting into the college ranks is knowing how much the landscape is going to change in the coming years, no matter how much gibberish certain Power-5 talking heads want to throw out.
We are headed towards a professional football format, inside the collegiate ranks, and it's coming quicker than some might have imagined, as Trent Dilfer explained on McElroy and Cubelic In The Morning.
"I think what’s coming, I’m pretty confident in this talking to people far more powerful than me. These are billionaires in the Bay Area. There’s gonna be a breakoff of about 50-60 teams, and they’re going to be professional football," Dilfer explained. "Then everybody else is going to be what you’re saying, call it G-5, call it college football or whatever you want. We’re gonna be competing on hopefully a more level playing field.
"That’s coming way faster than anybody can anticipate and there are venture capitalist right now actively looking to buy college franchises, because they couldn’t buy professional franchise, they’re looking to buy college franchises."
Coaches Are Speaking Out About SEC, Big Ten Throwing Weight Around
One of the biggest talking points coming out of the week centered around the SEC and Big Ten doing everything they can to make sure there new power conferences are taken care of in the new college football playoff format that would increase to fourteen teams in 2026.
At the center of conversations is both leagues looking for a clear number of automatic qualifiers, while also expressing that they want first round byes for their conference champions. This potential format move has caused angst among college coaches and administrators outside of the Power-2 conferences, which was to be expected. Having two-spots already guaranteed for a first round bye, before the season begins and teams play for a spot in the playoffs has drawn harsh criticism from a few coaches this week.
"A playoff format that guarantees a first-round bye to any team, division or conference before the season starts is unheard of in any sport as far as I'm aware," Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy told ESPN. "Based on the premise proposed, a team could be undefeated and ranked No. 1 in the country and still not receive a first-round bye because teams were rewarded one before the season even began."
SEC, Big Ten Using Their Authority To Dictate Future Of College Football Playoff, Money Still Rules CFB
INGLEWOOD, CALIFORNIA - JANUARY 09: A view of signage and team flags before the TCU Horned Frogs play the Georgia Bulldogs in the College Football Playoff National Championship game at SoFi Stadium on January 09, 2023 in Inglewood, California. (Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images)
Another coach who had something to say about the potential format of the new playoff system was TCU head coach Sonny Dykes, whose team played for a national championship just two years ago. In looking to correlate how absurd this would be for two teams from the mega-conferences to receive a first round bye, he used the Dallas Cowboys.
"Automatic first-round byes for the Big Ten and SEC is like the NFL saying the Cowboys get a first-round bye since they have more fans than the Bengals," Sonny Dykes told ESPN. "How preposterous is that?"
Both coaches are certainly not wrong, but time will tell if their arguments fall on deaf ears. The clock is ticking on getting a new playoff format signed and delivered, and both the SEC and Big Ten feel as if they hold a much better hand in this game of poker.
Either way, this is all coming to a head, and coaches outside the Power-2 are voicing their displeasure with the current direction of a potential new playoff format.
This is only the beginning, and more coaches will start to discuss the matter, as spring practices begin across the country, along with conference commissioners looking to push back on the discussion.