The Big Lead

One thing is certain about College Football Playoff structure discussions: they're going to screw it up

By Sam Westmoreland

Jan 19, 2025; Atlanta, GA, USA; The College Football Playoff National Championship logo at midfield at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the site of the 2025 College Football Playoff National Championship between the Ohio State Buckeyes and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
Jan 19, 2025; Atlanta, GA, USA; The College Football Playoff National Championship logo at midfield at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the site of the 2025 College Football Playoff National Championship between the Ohio State Buckeyes and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
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College football's commissioners ended their meeting without reaching a decision on how the Playoffs will look next season and beyond, but if the way things are looking has shown us anything, it's this:

They're going to screw it up.

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Chris Vannini of The Athletic detailed what was discussed at the meetings between the 10 conference comissioners and Notre Dame (as an independent school the Irish get their own full seat at the table), and much of it was roughly what fans of the sport figured it would be: the Big Ten and SEC were unhappy with the seeding, and with the number of teams they got into the field this year.

The general consensus appears to be that the likeliest outcome for next season will be that the top four teams in the final rankings get byes, rather than the four top-ranked conference champions. After that, expansion also feels likely, but the format could change so that both the Big Ten and SEC are guaranteed four teams out of those 16.

Sure, in some years, eight of the 16 best teams in the country will be from the SEC and Big Ten. And, maybe in most years that will be the case. But if so, why do you need those spots guaranteed? Why are you so worried about competing against the other power conferences in a fair fight?

Because it's not about the competition. It's not about creating a product people care about, or about building the best possible setup for choosing a champion. It's about one thing, and one thing only: the money. Specifically, as much of the money as possible going to the SEC and Big Ten, and as little of it as possible going everywhere else.

There's not that much they can do to kill this format next year; seeding changes were always coming, and with all four of last year's top four at the end of the regular season coming from the SEC and Big Ten, it's hard to envision that anyone is going to put up enough of a stink that a bit more money isn't going to silence them.

But after that? After that the SEC and Big Ten get significantly more say in how things are set up, and by all indications, that means we can expect to see more SEC and Big Ten teams, and more money going in that direction. Are they scared to compete? Absolutely they are, but what they're even more scared of is not getting more money than everyone else.

That's how you know that no matter what they do, no matter how this format changes in 2026, it's going to be worse. They don't view it as anything more than a way to enrich themselves, and when that's your only concern, you don't really care about anything else.

So, strap in folks. If you think the playoff format was dumb last season, you ain't seen nothin' yet.

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