Posted by Jon Joseph:

 

Below is my response to an article by Jon Wilner of the Wilner Hotline,  I’m disagreeing with only one side of the 11-5 format being told and making the B1G the Playoff format bad guy.

 

Every CFB metric, including the number of folks tuning in, supports the B1G and the SEC having at least 4 teams each in the PO field. Viewers equal dollars at a time when CFB desperately needs dollars. 

 

Why trust a committee that had Boise State ranked as the ninth-best team in the country? Would Boise have defeated the 3-loss Illinois, Bama, Ole Miss, and South Carolina teams? Compared to these four teams, Boise had a weak strength-of-schedule. There was no explanation from the committee as to why Boise's SOS was ignored. 

 

Since the inception of One True Champion, the BCS, no team without a Blue Chip Roster has won a title. The B12 has no Blue Chip teams. The ACC has two Blue Chip teams, Clemson and Miami, and sometimes a third in FSU. 

 

The ACC, in particular, with eight conference games, and the B12 do not have an in-conference strength of schedule close to the SEC and the B1G. The CBB committee, with its disclosed and followed metrics, would publicly deal with this. The football committee decides its rankings sub rosa. 

 

If the ACC wants 3 teams in, stop enabling Notre Dame's independence. And play 9 conference games. Many 9 conference game B1G teams plan 10 P4 games, so don't try to justify 8 conference games because Louisville plays Kentucky, or because you're propping up Notre Dame.

 

The B1G has indicated that it would consider the 5-11 format IF the SEC plays 9 conference games. An entirely reasonable request, no?

 

If you believe Sankey and the SEC ADs weren't aware that the SEC would have had 6 teams in a 16-team 2024-25 PO field before being so informed by SEC coaches in Destin, Florida, don't get hurt falling off the pumpkin wagon. The Advisory Committee was a phony detente move by Sankey, who will be hailed as a hero if he goes 11-5, notwithstanding staying at 8 conference games. 

 

Sports journalists can't see through Sankey's ploy? They need Petitti to speak up and tear down the SEC's newfound interest in 11-5? So much for impartial journalism. 

 

And Jon, to the best of my knowledge, the NFL does not invite UFL teams to its PO. Add Notre Dame, Clemson, ASU, CU, FSU, and perhaps a couple of others to the Power 2, and what program outside of this group could win a PO? This is not CBB, where mid-majors can make tournament noise and win four games in a row on the way to a CFB title. 

 

The ACC and the B12 readily accepted media money. The media marketplace has decided on two winners, the SEC and the B1G. Harsh, but thus goes capitalism.

 

From the B1G's POV, take a look at the SEC cheerleader, ESPN's FPI top 25. Only 81.25% of the SEC is ranked in the top 25. If I'm Tony Petitti, here's my Exhibit A(uburn.)

 

Thanks for the great coverage of CFB, but as a Ducks fan, I prefer Petitti to follow the advice attributed to Teddy Roosevelt: Speak softly and carry a B1G stick. 

 

I never want to see Tony doing the Sesame Street act Sankey went with in 2023-24 when lobbying for Bama to be in instead of FSU. Sankey won the argument. Tony should roll over for the 11-5 model without the SEC playing a 9th conference game? 

 

I hope you are willing, without supporting the position, to explain what you believe to be the B1G's reasons for four automatic qualifiers.

 

 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

 

* Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti remains silent on his controversial playoff proposal.

* The 4-4-2-2-1 model gives Big Ten and SEC four automatic bids.

* Critics demand transparency, comparing Petitti's silence to other commissioners' open discussions.

 

College Football Playoff controversy: Time for Big Ten commissioner to explain his radical proposal

WWW.KSL.COM

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As the College Football Playoff world debates proposed formats for 2026 and beyond, the architect of what many consider the nuclear option has remained deafeningly silent.

 

 

An example of why the B1G is concerned over 8 vs. 9 SEC conference games.

 

 

Alabama has a few extra bye weeks on its 2025 schedule with these 3 cupcakes

BAMAHAMMER.COM

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With just an eight-game conference schedule in the SEC, Alabama and the rest of the league has room for a few more cupcake opponents in the race for the CFP.

 

And will the opener at FSU be a test for The Tide? Last year, it was DTU who bombed at QB. 

 

QB Thomas Castellanos was benched by Bill O'Brien at BC and immediately left the team before transferring to FSU. I see SSDD headed FSU's way. 

 

Oh, and BTW, Ole Miss's toughest OOC opponent in 2025 is Wazzu 😁.

 

The above is not emblematic of all SEC programs. Florida plays two P4 teams OOC in 2025, and Georgia played two in 2024. Texas does step up against Ohio State, but it and an Oklahoma team that plays Michigan, both have OOC three weenie-roasts. 

 

Penn State's OOC slate in 2025 is a LOL joke, but PSU does play 9 B1G games. 

 

Based on a small two-season sample size, and notwithstanding the ESPN FPI cheerleading and its own 'It Just Means More breast breast-beating, the B1G was on par with or better than the SEC in 2023 and 2024. 

 

Does it matter? One cannot tell how the CFB PO committee values SOS. Yes, 2-loss champ game loser SMU was in the field and not 3-loss Bama, Ole Miss, and South Carolina. However, with its by far most difficult game being a loss at an Oregon team finding its footing, how in Hades can Boise State's ranking as the 9th best team in CFB be justified?

 

Nothing to see here, move right along. 😁

 

I had to think about this issue for awhile.

 

Sankey just bamboozled the ACC and Big 12.  They are going to regret going the 5-11 route.  It essentially means the ACC and Big 12 will fill ONE SLOT EVERY YEAR IN THE PLAYOFFS.

 

So basically, Clemson, FSU and Miami are going to start fighting for recruits with schools like USuC, Nebraska, Indiana, the Fuskies and Illinois on a regular basis, because all it will take is any of those teams winning 10 and the ACC is cooked.

 

Reputation doesn't matter anymore.  The ACC is Miami,FSU Clemson and Notre Dame.  Norte Dame gets a free pass with 9 wins, with two against those three.

 

The Big 12 probably wouldn't get two in if both had 11 wins because their SOS is totally weak (and all you have to do is watch them play-you can see the vast difference in talent -mid level SEC teams would storm the Big 12).

 

The winner of course, will be the SEC.  All it will take is teams like Auburn defeating Baylor, and Georgia Tech beating Colorado and the discussion is over.  And the SEC will crow for centuries about the mediocrity in the Lesser Two. 

 

The only thing the lesser Two have going for them is scheduling.  They'll have to start scheduling the P2 regularly.  They'll have to demand it, in fact call out the P2 so they can schedule OOC games regularly.

 

This is going to be interesting.  The SEC knows this is a move to get five minimum every year.  Petitti will have to explain himself because it just might impact the B1G as well. We know for a fact the SEC won't dare schedule the B1G in OOC games if this model goes through.

 

Like I said, plenty of SEC teams will only need to defeat one SEC power to demand their spot.  With an 8 game conference schedule, Vandy, Mississippi State, Kentucky, are gimmie wins for above average SEC teams.  Add bad years for another two or three and you're looking at an easy five win SEC record.  With the four high school teams they play, 9-3 is a playoff berth.

 

That won't be as easy for the middle of the B1G to accomplish.  

 

 

USA takes a look back at what the PO fields would have been with a 16-team, 5-11 format. 

 

Big winner? Not the SEC, it's The B1G.

 

 

Who benefits from College Football Playoff expansion to 16 teams?

WWW.USATODAY.COM

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If College Football Playoff indeed expands to 16 teams, it will become a more attainable destination for three-loss teams from coast to coast.

 

FWIW, I believe the B1G should go with the 5-11 format, IF the SEC plays 9 conference games. 

On 6/13/2025 at 12:34 PM, Jon Joseph said:

IF the SEC plays 9 conference games. 

IF Gus Johnson becomes a calming influence

 

Is Sankey Schizo? Didn't he call out the PO committee last season for counting losses and not quality wins? Now, the 13 experts will certainly 'Get It?'

 

 

Greg Sankey explains why he's in favor of keeping College Football Playoff selection committee over computers - On3

WWW.ON3.COM

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Greg Sankey is in favor of a College Football Playoff selection committee over utilizing computers to figure out who the top teams are.

 

Why not the CBB committee approach of using human beings who rely upon disclosed metrics and explain if they go 'off-metric '?

 

'The SEC wants guaranteed PO spots because we don't trust the committee.' 'Oops, what we really want is our champ in and 11 teams chosen at large.'

 

'We need to play 9 conference games?'  'Oops, considering our conference has a gauntlet like no other, 8 games is just fine.'

 

'Let's have an SEC vs. B1G Football Challenge!' 'Oops, maybe not?'

 

Is he trying to drive Tony Petitti crazy? 🤬

On 6/16/2025 at 10:48 AM, Jon Joseph said:

 

'The SEC wants guaranteed PO spots because we don't trust the committee.' 'Oops, what we really want is our champ in and 11 teams chosen at large.'

Sankey really thinks that involving other conferences at all just clutter things up. The last two seasons should be vacated due to lack of SEC participation. 

 

CBS Sports Ideas for 2026-27 PO Format. Good ideas on the whole.

 

There are 136 teams eligible for the PO in 2026-27, not 135. 

 

There is no need for 2 G6 (CFB has a G6 and not a G5) teams in the field. This gives the 1st and 2nd seeds home game gimmes.

 

Last season, No. 1 OBD would have played No. 16 Army. That No. 2 Georgia would have had to play No. 15 Clemson is absurd. Boise State should have been last season's No. 12 seed; Exhibit 'A' on the Committee's process being screwed up.

 

If you want the best teams in the PO, why cap the B1G and the SEC at 4 teams? 

 

I do like 16 teams with no byes and home games until the semi-final and championship games. I'd have the Rose, Sugar, Cotton, and Orange Bowl as PO sites, not the Fiesta and Peach Bowls.

 

I generally agree on the changes to the schedule, but the semifinals should be played on the 1st of January, the 2nd if the 1st falls on a Sunday. The Champ game should be played on a Saturday.

 

If the NFL does not agree to block out an exclusive broadcast window on Champion Saturday, how about no more NFL on-campus Pro Days? And NFL scouts have to buy a ticket to attend CFB games.

 

I love Notre Dame having to play 10 P4 teams. 

 

Getting rid of conference champ games sounds good, but how will the loss of media deal revenue be made up? Play the conference champ games Thanksgiving week on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

 

Use the AP poll before Selection Sunday, with positive and negative outlier votes tossed out. Broadcast the CFB PO committee deliberations and require the committee to use publicly disclosed metrics as part of the process, and explain any variance from the use of a metric. 

 

Don't allow Greg Sankey to be a part of the PO design. 😁

 

 

How to fix the College Football Playoff: Format, schedule changes necessary with expansion on the horizon - CBSSports.com

WWW.CBSSPORTS.COM

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Tom Fornelli's complete guide to ensuring the best college football product as changes loom ahead of the 2026 season

“Oh, and how about this: The playoff would have featured its first four-loss teams. Auburn (2016), Stanford (2017) and Texas (2018) were four-loss teams ranked high enough to crack a 16-team playoff.”

I really hate the direction college football is headed.
 

It’s all about $$$ - rivalries, tradition, the pageantry and fans be damned.  
 

1) Start playing games on Thursdays, Fridays, early and late night. 

 

2) Break up traditional conferences and consolidate regardless of geography and traditional rivalries all for TV money. 
 

3) Allow boosters to pay college athletes an unlimited amount of money  to come to and remain at their schools. 
 

4) Set up a transfer portal to create an unrestricted free agency for every athlete, every year. 
 

5) Expand the playoffs watering down the regular season even more. Now it’ll be like every other professional season. Four-loss teams making the playoff - give me a break. If you lose a quarter of your games, you don’t deserve to go to the playoffs. I’d rather they throw in some mid-majors instead, just to make things interesting.  
 

At this rate, I’ll start to look for other things to occupy my Thursday nights, Friday nights and Saturday from 9am PT to after midnight. 

Edited June 16Jun 16 by OregonDucks

On 6/16/2025 at 4:17 PM, OregonDucks said:

I really hate the direction college football is headed.
 

It’s all about $$$ - rivalries, tradition, the pageantry and fans be damned.  

Remember the halcyon days of college football? Sure, we laugh at the Huskies and their split 'ship in '91, but that was a great team, and there were split champs before and after, controversy raged. Good times. The money problem, ignored by the NCAA, of coaches getting big bucks and going wherever and whenever they wanted while the student-athlete couldn't get a job festered until where it is now. The NCAA figured the football player should not get NIL money if the Art major didn't, they're both student/athletes. 

 

 

 

This is a big week for future CFB playoff formats. Will it come out B1G?

 

 

Ross Bjork wants conference commissioners to discuss College Football Playoff format talks in private - On3

WWW.ON3.COM

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Ohio State athletic director Ross Bjork explained why College Football Playoff format discussions should be kept private.

 

First, Hats Off to the City of Asheville, NC, which was devastated by Hurricane Helene but was able to recover and host the CFB PO pooh-bahs. 

 

Per the broadcast agreement with Disney/ESPN, the PO format that will be used for 2026 and thereafter through the 2031-2032 season has to be approved by December of 2025. Not so long ago, the meeting in Asheville was predicted to resolve PO format issues and deliver a new format.

 

Now? Greg Sankey has reversed course on his view of the PO Committee's role; he supports the Committee, and has backed off from guaranteed PO spots for the B1G and the SEC in favor of a 5-11 format with the kicker that the SEC will stay at 8-conference games. In other words, a B1G FU to the B1G and commissioner Tony Petitti. 

 

So, I understand why Ohio State AD Bjork and others want the debate to be behind closed doors. The discussions could get heated with Sankey's flip in preferred PO format from 4-4-2-2-1-3 to 5-11, the latter format being favored by the ACC, B12, the G6, and likely, Notre Dame. 

 

The SEC teased the B1G and CFB, with a B1G/SEC Football challenge, playing 9 conference games, and cooperating as members of the Advisory Committee. Sankey led the B1G down a path of cooperation before pulling the rug out.

 

Sankey was not aware before the SEC meetings in Florida that the SEC would have had six teams in a 16-team 5-11 format in 2025-26, that he and the SEC ADs weren't aware of SEC coaches pushing back on going to nine conference games, and that the SEC already played an 8-game conference gauntlet unlike no other? Disengenous garbage. 

 

The detente between the SEC and B1G with the formation of an Advisory Committee now appears to be little more than a Sankey and SEC smokescreen. The SEC and Sankey are heroes, the B1G and Petitti are greedy, selfish SOBs bent on destroying college football. 

 

If Petitti rolls over on the format and the SEC stays with 8 conference games, it will be a bad look for Tony and the B1G. Petitti will join former B12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby as Commisioner's screwed over by Greg Sankey.

 

From an Old Timer's POV, the B1G and the Pac-12 never should have agreed to the SEC's Roy Kramer's 'College Football Needs One True Champion' nonsense and stayed with the Rose being the be-all and end-all. But, as has consistently been the case, all of CFB followed the money.

 

Expect fireworks in Ashville.

 

Prepare yourself for a B1G bend over.  

On 6/17/2025 at 9:03 AM, Jon Joseph said:

But, as has consistently been the case, all of CFB followed the money.

 

"Follow the Money" "Absolute corrupts absolutely" "Greed is Good"

 

Money is not evil; the love of money is evil. 🥵

 

A look back at the BCS computers, how we arrived at today's 'Eye Test' committee, and an argument that, with improved programming, at least in part, CFB should bring back the use of disclosed metrics.

 

 

How the BCS’ endless self-tinkering influenced the Playoff

WWW.BANNERSOCIETY.COM

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Twenty years ago, the BCS unveiled its original formula, and college football was never controversial ever again.

 

Ralph Russo of The Athletic ($ wall) has an article up that bores holes through Sankey and his incessant beating of the drum for the SEC.

 

Sankey is a self-promoting, SEC-promoting 💩 Head who isn't protecting The Good of the Game, only the SEC.

 

Thank you, Ralph.

 

CBS Sports on the B1G/SEC PO format stalemate.

 

 

Big Ten, SEC stalemate headlines College Football Playoff meetings with strength-of-schedule metrics in focus - CBSSports.com

WWW.CBSSPORTS.COM

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The two most powerful conferences in the country may now be on opposing sides as deadline nears

On 6/17/2025 at 11:44 AM, Jon Joseph said:

Sankey is a self-promoting, SEC-promoting 💩 Head who isn't protecting The Good of the Game, only the SEC.

No wonder the SEC and ESPN work so well together. 

New metrics for the upcoming season will be set as expansion talks will continue into future

Key tweak to College Football Playoff selection process set to be finalized as future format questions remain

CBS is buying the biased FPI rankings used by Sankey to support a 16-team field and the SEC staying at 8 conference games. It's male bovine horse manure!

It's self-evident that half of the teams in a conference that plays 8 conference games will have one fewer loss than conferences that play 9 conference games. Did Sankey adjust the FPI rankings for this inconvenient fact?

ESPN owns, controls, and programs the FPI. ESPN talking heads last season couldn't stop whining about 3-loss SEC teams not being in the field.

This whining came before Tennessee took over Ohio Stadium, so the Vols fans had an up-close and personal view of their team being trashed. Before an undermanned 5-loss Michigan team defeated Alabama. Before a 9-3 South Carolina team lost to a 9-3 Illinois team. 9-3 Ole Miss defeated a middle-of-the-pack ACC team, Duke, that played without its starting QB. Way to go!

The FPI preseason top 25 ranks 13 SEC teams in the top 25. That's 81.25% of the conference. In a court of law, this biased piece of trash would be thrown out of court in a heartbeat. ESPN's Bill Connolly's SP+ poll is slightly better; it has only 11 SEC teams in the top 25.

Ipso facto, with 13 SEC teams ranked, every conference game other than games between Arkansas, Mississippi State, and Vanderbilt will be FPI top 25 vs. top 25 matchups. How can anyone past puberty and not southern-fried fall for this stuff?

The B12's approval of five automatic qualifiers, seven at-large PO format, is contingent on all conferences playing nine conference games. Petitti must insist on the same criteria, or it's a B1G bend over.

Is CB$ aware that it's the B1G buttering its bread?

Unless the metrics the CFB committee uses are publicly disclosed and the variance from the metrics when ranking teams is explained, such as Boise State with an SOS in the 80s being ranked 9th, the metrics will be a smoke screen for the Eye Test.

BIG 12 - Too Little + Too Late.

Big 12 Commish wants to keep CFB special, but his words are too little, too late

Every Commissioner Wants What's Best for Their Conference, But Let's Kick the B1G to the Curb.

Why should anyone have any faith in a committee that last season ranked a team with a SOS in the 80s as the ninth best team in the nation? Will the committee adopt and publicly disclose the metrics it uses, and state the reason(s) why it ignored the metrics when this is the case?

This ranking screwed over ASU, but the B12 commish is just fine with the committee, if, which is rarely pointed out in the articles, demeaning Tony Petitti, the ACC, and the SEC play nine conference games. That's a B1G caveat.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/2025/07/09/college-football-playoff-format-big-ten-plan/84493690007/

If the SEC stays with 8 conference games, the PO should stay at 12. The B1G is No. 1 in $$$ and will stay at No. 1 if the PO stays with 12 teams in the field.

https://sports.yahoo.com/college-football/breaking-news/article/whats-next-for-college-football-playoff-format-sec-commish-says-it-could-stay-the-same-if-sides-remain-divided-164415303.html

USA Today is not wholesale buying Sankey's SOS claims.

https://sports.yahoo.com/article/greg-sankey-embellishes-bold-claims-175723796.html

"Coming out of Destin" and other lies from Sankey that journalists buy without question.

90% plus of the articles quoting the B12's support for the 5-11 model do not include the B12's support is conditioned upon the SEC and the ACC playing nine conference games.

On July 22nd, I hope Tony Petitti comes out firing against Sankey and his horse manure.

AP News

The SEC and Big Ten are currently at a standstill over th...

SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey says the SEC and Big Ten have not agreed on a College Football Playoff format beyond this season.

The B1G, to date, is not backing down. 5-11 will be considered if the SEC plays nine conference games.

SI

Big Ten Tightens Stance on College Football Playoff Expan...

The league is not currently compromising on its preferred CFP format unless the SEC makes a scheduling change.

Here's hoping I don't get fooled again, but Greg Sankey and Tony Petitti are discussing the 2026 and subsequent playoff formats almost daily. As Sankey says, 'We're two blue-collar boys.'

Heard today in a discussion devoted to the SEC were two SEC homers who believe that automatic qualifiers (AQ) are still very much in play. That Sankey is posturing to get more money out of ESPN for playing a 9th conference game. The SEC's concern about the PO Committee and the manner in which it operates has not gone away.

It is incorrect, as has been stated by many football experts, that a 4-4-2-2-1-3 format caps the B1G and the SEC at four teams in the field. Yes, Notre Dame will almost certainly take one of the three at-large spots season after season, but there is no restriction on the B1G or the SEC securing one of the at-large bids.

Using the PO Committee's final 2024 top 25 ranking, and using the above AQ model, this would have been the PO field by conference, and the field come 2026 would be seeded as ranked.

SEC - 2 Georgia / 3 Texas / 7 Tennessee / 11 Alabama / 14 Ole Miss / 15 South Carolina

B1G - 1 OBD / 2 Penn State / 6 Ohio State / 8 Indiana

ACC - 10 SMU / 16 Clemson

B12 - 12 ASU / 17 BYU

G5 - 9 Boise State

IND - 5 Notre Dame

The ACC and the B1G, except for a difference in ranking, would have been the same in the 2025 12-team field.

The B12 would have two and not one team in the mix.

The winner hands down would be the SEC with six teams in the field. Bama would have been the SEC's 4th AQ, and Ole Miss and South Carolina would take two at-large spots.

If the format had played out this way, it would have meant millions of dollars more for the SEC. So, what's Sankey's beef with the B1G's proposed format? That a format with AQs is not fair to the ACC, G6, and the B12? 😁

Excuse me, Sir, how much do you want for that bridge? 🤪

What's the answer to college football's playoff problem? Big Ten commish points at 'play-in games' for his rationale

LAS VEGAS — A month ago, as he tuned into a College Football Playoff meeting through Zoom, Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti felt a wave of sudden enlightenment wash over him.

As he watched CFP staff members share potential changes to the criteria and data used by the selection committee, as he witnessed mathematicians deliver ideas on adjustments, Petitti pulled away from the Zoom and had a thought.

What the heck are we doing?

“I found myself sitting there thinking that play-in games seem so rational as we look at folks talk about points and subtracting numbers and adding numbers. I’m thinking, ‘This is the rational system and the one where we play games is radical?’

“I admire the work they’re putting into it and all the stuff they’re talking about and adding and subtracting and listening to mathematicians and scheduling experts. But all of that is more valuable than two teams playing on the field? OK.”

In an interview on Monday with Yahoo Sports from the site of this week’s Big Ten football media days, Petitti emphasized that his league’s position on a future playoff format remains unchanged — a position, he says, that is unlikely to change until the power conferences agree to play the same amount of conference games (nine) and until the selection process is rectified.

Tony Petitti remains supportive of a playoff format that'd give 4 automatic bids to the Big Ten and SEC

Thanks, NJ, for posting Tony Petitti's thoughts on the future PO format. Tony is being skewered for his 'radical' format, but IMO, he makes perfect sense. Also, he is not opposed to, for example, a 5-11 format if the Power 4 conferences all play nine conference games—an entirely reasonable condition.

In the NFL, every team plays 17 conference games; half of the league does not play a USFL opponent in the penultimate week of the regular season. This is the case for NFL teams currently playing in a weaker division, as well as the teams playing in the toughest division.

In 2025, one SEC team, Florida, plays 11 Power 4 opponents. Two SEC teams, Alabama and South Carolina, play 10 P4 teams. 13 B1G teams play 10 P4 opponents. At least the 16-team SEC has title success to support its staying at eight, the 17-team ACC has Clemson in the PO era, and that's it.

I know that many on the OBD Forum do not like the idea of PO play-in games. Allow me to explain why I think play-in games make sense.

1st - Teams in 1st and second place, the penultimate week of the regular season, are in the PO no matter the winner of the game in the flex-scheduled final game of the regular season, the conference champ game. The winners of six versus three and five versus four receive the other two automatic PO bids.

2nd - Using the play-in flex-scheduled format allows the conference championship game to be played a week earlier, which moves the first round of the PO up a week, meaning fewer games going against NFL competition.

3rd - Mega-conference schedules are far from equal. Compare Florida's schedule in 2025 with that of Missouri. Compare Wisconsin's schedule to OBD's schedule. Teams competing for the same title do not face the same gauntlet of competition.

In 2025, OBD plays two teams, Penn State and Indiana, ranked in the preseason top 25. Two of the four conference road games in 2025 are against Northwestern and Rutgers.

In 2027, OBD plays at Michigan, Nebraska, and UW, and plays Ohio State, Penn State, and Iowa in Autzen. In 2027, a 4th-place Oregon could be 9-3 through 11 games, but better than an OBD team that could finish with two or fewer losses in 2025.

4th - Whether I like it or not, today, money matters more in college athletics than ever before. As a result of revenue sharing with athletes, we've witnessed schools dropping sports and cutting athletic department staff. (I acknowledge that this is also the result of poor management of athletic departments.)

Three impactful games in the final week of the regular season, one for seeding purposes and two for PO participation, will bring in more money than a standalone conference champion game. Rivalry games would be played in the 11th game.

In 2024, we would have seen 6 Iowa at 3 Penn State, 5 Illinois at 4 Ohio State, and 2 Indiana at 1 Oregon. There would be rematches in a given season, but not in 2024. These three games would draw multi-millions of viewers.

5th - I believe Tony Petitti is correct that with automatic qualifiers, we would see better out-of-conference games. The B1G/SEC (Show Me the Money) Football Challenge could come to fruition with fans watching Oklahoma and Texas in Autzen instead of Oklahoma State and Baylor.

6th - Paying no attention to history, which seems to be the norm these days, allows for seeing Petitti's AQ PO format proposal being 'radical.'

If you go back to 1998, the first season with a BCS 'One True Champion', and use the final regular season rankings through the 2024 season, the B1G and the SEC would have placed four teams each in a 16-team PO field in almost every season. Why leave PO participation to a committee whose processes are opaque and last season ranked a G5 team the ninth best in the nation.

I agree with Tony Petitti, if the B1G and the SEC cannot agree on a revised format, stay at 12 teams. If three-loss SEC teams are not included in the field, and millions more dollars are not generated by expanding the field, that's on Greg Sankey.

The B1G is the undisputed No. 1 bottom-line conference, and staying with 12 teams will not alter this fact.

Tony just needs to sit on his hands, do nothing, and keep the current format. With the skewed rankings and the 8 game schedule, it will be the SEC that is missing out on the extra playoff spots. The pressure will mount eventually.

No surprise that Tony Petitti's opening statement today mirrored his interview with Yahoo Sports that NJ Duck was good enough to post.

I missed a call from Brother Charles, who left a message questioning, in particular, why fans would support PO play-in games when their team could have already secured one of The B1G's four automatic PO qualifying bids. Would fans support a system where a team could play the same conference opponent four times in a season?

Both are excellent questions that I will try to answer.

First, some context. College football (CFB) has seen more change in the last five years than in the prior 100 CFB seasons. The biggest change to the 'student-amateur-athlete' paradigm came recently when the House settlement was approved, with schools now able to pay athletes directly.

The cap on direct revenue sharing in year one post-settlement is $20.5 million. OBD is blessed to be one of the very few schools to have an athletic department in the black. The majority of athletic departments, if they were stand-alone businesses, would be functionally insolvent. So, the most pressing question for college athletic departments is 'how do we bring in more dough?'

In theory, the B1G's 4-4-2-2-1-3 16-team PO format (B1G format) would provide three additional sources of football revenue.

The media, in this case Disney/ESPN, will pay more for a 16-team PO inventory than for the current 12-team inventory.

With AQs in place, Petitti believes schools will schedule more challenging out-of-conference games, which in turn would mean more media income. No doubt a Football Challenge between the B1G and the SEC would generate significant revenue.

Teams would not be penalized for scheduling and losing games such as Texas vs. Ohio State, Oklahoma vs. Michigan, and Alabama vs. Wisconsin, scheduled in 2025. Play-in games would be decided only on in-conference game results. Rivalry games would be played in the penultimate game of the regular season.

In my earlier example of what the play-in games would have been in 2024, I erred in using 12-game regular-season records and not the standings after the 8th conference games were played.

The conference schedules in 2024, after eight conference games were played, would have had No.1 Oregon vs. No. 2 Penn State, with both teams automatically qualifying for the PO regardless of the score of the Conference Championship game. The first-place and second-place teams would be in the PO. The champ game result could affect seeding but not PO participation.

No. 6 Iowa would have played No. 3 Indiana. No. 5 Illinois would have played No. 4 Ohio State. The winner of these two games would advance to the PO.

These three games would not have included a rematch. It's possible but unlikely that teams would play one another three let alone four times. The PO committee would determine the PO seeding, but the B1G would decide on the four AQ teams and their B1G seeding. This would be the case for the other three power conferences. The PO committee would not be able to change the order in which B1G teams were seeded by the conference, but of course, could change where teams are seeded one through sixteen.

Three impactful flex-scheduled games played on the final week of the regular season would generate far more dollars than one championship game played a week after the conclusion of the regular season. Four teams would be in the mix for the final two AQ PO spots.

In addition to the increased media revenue, play-in games would help level the in-conference scheduling in a given season. In 2025, a sixth-place Wisconsin, with the most difficult conference schedule, would have a shot at the PO. Nebraska and OBD's relatively easy 2025 conference schedules will be more difficult down the road.

Not sold? I get it! A 12-team PO in 2025-26, this time with teams seeded as ranked by the committee, is just as likely as expanding the field to 14 or 16 teams. Petitti, in his opening remarks today, made it clear that a 16-team 5-11 format is not going to happen unless all of the Power conferences play nine conference games.