How Big Ten, SEC must compromise for next College Football Playoff expansion

It shouldn't take two days at the Biltmore Estate Hilltop Inn in Asheville, N.C., for college football playoff leaders to work together on the format for the next version of the sport's postseason.

You can make the necessary compromises faster than that. Instead, potential College Football Playoff expansion stalled because the Big Ten and SEC reportedly are at odds about the format. 

"They are obligated to come to an agreement on what the format is," College Football Playoff executive director Rich Clark said on Wednesday. "They will determine that between the parties and will go forward from there."

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How do we go forward? Here are the changes the Big Ten and SEC need to make to get the College Football Playoff to 16 teams before the Dec. 1, 2025 deadline.

Otherwise, we're stuck at 12 in 2026. That's not what either conference wants.

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How Big Ten can compromise with the SEC 

Ditch the four-AQ minimum

Ohio State coach Ryan Day is among the conference's supporters of an automatic qualifier model. 

"We're in the Big Ten, and we have 18 teams and some of the best programs in the country," Day said via ESPN. "I feel like we deserve at least four automatic qualifiers."

Day is right about the improved strength of the conference outside of just the Buckeyes, who have remained the dominant Big Ten program through the BCS and CFP eras. Ohio State and Michigan have won the last two national championships. Penn State was a CFP semifinalist in 2023, and the 18-team behemoth added Oregon, Washington, USC and UCLA. 

Success, however, can fluctuate within a conference. The Big Ten has never had more than five teams ranked in the final Top 25 College Football Playoff rankings since 2014. The SEC has had more than five teams in the final CFP rankings in seven of 11 seasons – including last year with seven teams. The SEC has had more teams in the top 25 of the final CFP rankings in every year of the CFP. 

Why would they agree to give the Big Ten the same number of automatic bids? 

Plus, we just don't agree with the idea of assigning four automatic playoff spots to the Big Ten and SEC anyway. In fact, we'd like to get rid of automatic qualifiers altogether. 

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How the SEC can compromise with the Big Ten 

Go to nine conference games

Yes, the SEC has a stronger in-conference strength of schedule than anybody else right now based on Post-Spring Top 25 polls and the number of ranked teams. Why would Greg Sankey agree to add eight more losses to the records of the SEC teams? 

Because it's better than watching Alabama play Eastern Illinois on Nov. 22. Texas is the only SEC school that is not playing an FCS school in 2025. Those 15 games – one per school –  against FCS schools are fairly easy to scrub from the schedule, and it's past time to do that.  

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How Big Ten and SEC can work together 

Lead unified push to 16 teams

If the College Football Playoff expands to 16 teams, drops automatic qualifiers and does the most logical thing possible and invite and seed the teams in order from the final CFP rankings, then the Big Ten and SEC will be taken care of. Even a 5-11 model would work here, too.

Using the CFP rankings for the top 16 teams in the final rankings since 2014, the SEC would have averaged 3.9 teams per season. A total of 21 SEC teams were ranked between 17-25 the last 11 years. The Big Ten would average 3.5 teams per season, and had six teams finish between 16-25. 

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That does not take into account the expansion for both leagues. 

The Big Ten and SEC combined for 10 of the top 16 teams last year and had just two teams – Illinois and Missouri – outside the top 16. The two conferences would have combined for 62.5% of the field in 2024 and 50% in 2023. If the CFP has 16 teams, the Big Ten and SEC are going to get at least 50% of the field almost every single season. 

It's a much better format for those two conferences than staying at 12 teams. 

Big Ten and SEC teams in final CFP rankings since 2014

Simplify the strength of schedule argument 

Yahoo Sports' Ross Dellenger reports the CFP had a presentation "with assistance from a Google mathematician and university math professor." 

College Football at one time had one of those fun formulas. It was called the BCS, and critics spent 1998-2013 ripping on it. The problem here is everybody's strength-of-schedule metrics are different. 

Florida is 14-6 at home the last three seasons. Illinois is 14-7. Which place is the tougher place to play? The Swamp in September or Champaign in November? You can't really measure that without a hint of perception. How do you factor in two time-zone travel – which is a thing in the Big Ten now?

Most of the strength-of-schedule talk riffed off the fact Alabama, Ole Miss and South Carolina were left out of the playoff despite their 9-3 records. The Gamecocks might have had the best argument of the three knowing they lost to three ranked teams. A BCS-style formula would have still had SMU and Indiana ahead of those teams. 

You can try simplifying the formula. Sporting News ranked the Big Ten schedule and SEC schedule earlier in June, and our notion is that the SEC teams have more difficult schedules than the Big Ten even with eight conference games. That's based on how many teams are ranked now and not in November. 

What's the solution? Trust the committee to use the strength-of-schedule model they have to come up with the 16 best teams. Or use a combined ranking with a BCS-style formula and the committee and average the two to come up with those 16 teams. Either way, strength of schedule will always be subjective in some ways. 

Push for first two rounds on campus 

Tennessee-Ohio State drew 14.68 million viewers — the most of any first-round CFP matchup. That was the only SEC-Big Ten matchup for the first round. That's not a coincidence. SEC vs. Big Ten matchups are huge draws. 

The Big Ten and SEC should be leading the push to get the first two rounds of CFP games on campus. Oregon and Georgia can relate here. The Ducks won the Big Ten in their first season in the conference, and were rewarded with a Rose Bowl matchup against Ohio State. Georgia – which braved a brutal schedule and won the SEC – played Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl.

Would the Ducks and Bulldogs have fared better on campus in those games? Oregon is 19-1 at home under Dan Lanning the last three years. Georgia has the nation's longest home winning streak at 32 games. It's surprising and the Big Ten and SEC aren't pushing for this more – as in it should be a mandate for the next chapter of the CFP. 

Will SEC, Big Ten work together for 16-team CFP? 

They should if they want more teams in the College Football Playoff. The Big Ten and SEC account for half of the Power 4 teams when you include Notre Dame. As long as the Power 2 are getting half of the CFP teams, then they should stay happy. 

Another concession that might need to happen: Table the SEC-Big Ten challenge. That's fine. We'd rather see those Big Ten-SEC matchups in the College Football Playoff or organically scheduled like Ohio State-Texas and Michigan-Oklahoma this year. We don't need to block off an entire week, even if it sounds awesome. 

Once the Big Ten and SEC work together and compromise, we will be on the fast track to 16 teams – which is better than the 12-team format. Like Clark said, they are obligated to make it happen.