SEC, Big Ten Pushing for Two Automatic Byes in 14-Team Playoff Format
Around 24 hours after news of a proposed 14-team playoff emerged, another layer of the chaos was peeled back on Thursday as more conversation details were uncovered.
On Wednesday, Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger reported that there is a proposal on the table to expand the College Football Playoff to 14 teams.
Dellenger cautioned that the proposal “is nowhere near finalized and is not the only format option that emerged from a meeting last week of the CFP Management Committee.”
However, as more details emerge, it seems that this is something that is being seriously considered by the powers that be. On Thursday, Dellenger shared some more details of the conversations.
According to Dellenger’s report, the SEC and Big Ten are pushing for their respective champions to have exclusive rights to two first-round byes, as a 14-team playoff structure would likely require the top two seeds to sit out from the first round of action.
That is just one version of the format being circulated by administrators, says Dellenger, and it’s not been well-received by those outside the two conferences.
“Such a concept — guaranteed byes for the Big Ten and SEC — is an unusual but somewhat expected maneuver from college football’s goliaths,” Dellenger writes. “It’s also a move that has garnered pushback from administrators outside of those two conferences.
“In a 14-team model that officials are socializing with their leagues, the Big Ten and SEC would each receive three automatic qualifiers, with the ACC and Big 12 getting two each and the Group of Five’s best team qualifying as well. Such a model would feature three at-large spots to the highest-ranked teams outside of the automatic qualifiers.
The model calls for the top two seeds to have byes into the second round. Under the 12-team format that will be used this fall and in 2025, the four highest-ranked conference champions are granted byes. In the 14-team version circulating across the country, the ACC and Big 12, the other two major conferences, would not have access to obtaining a bye — an unprecedented move and perhaps a tipping point for some administrators in those leagues.“
There was never a world where the SEC and Big Ten wouldn’t begin throwing their weight around, as that comes with the territory of being the two most powerful conferences in college football.
However, to see it happening and realize that it could have major ramifications for how a champion is crowned every year is still a sobering moment for the average college football fan.
