Dodd: B1G And SEC Expected To Flex For More Power In CFP Meeting Tomorrow
Per Dennis Dodd at CBS Sports:
https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/heres-what-big-ten-sec-…
Key Points:
Multiple Guaranteed Playoff Bids & Structure
"Up for discussion will be the overall number of playoff teams with Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti favoring 16 instead of 12, according to multiple reports. No matter the bracket size, Wednesday looms as the start of a showdown with the Big Ten and SEC perhaps ready to flex their might.
Three sources told CBS Sports this week that they "wouldn't be surprised" if the two conferences demand/propose to receive multiple guaranteed playoff bids annually."
Governance And Weighted Voting
"Beginning in 2026, it's almost certain there will be a weighted voting structure. And it's almost certain that the Big Ten and SEC will seek weighted voting that exceeds even that wielded by Power Four conference peers, the ACC and Big 12."
Tiered Revenue Distribution
The Power Five conferences currently receive approximately $80 million each from the CFP simply for being the Power Five. That distribution has been adjusted going forward with each Power Five school receiving approximately $5 million each. That weighs the distributions based on conference size, ensuring universities receive appropriately even pieces of the pie.
The Big Ten and SEC are unlikely to be amenable to that structure remaining in place. Don't be surprised if those conferences are at the forefront of seeking a multi-tiered revenue distribution within the playoff system. That could be structured as such:
- Top tier: Big Ten, SEC
- Second tier: ACC, Big 12
- Third tier: Mountain West, American
- Fourth tier: Conference USA, MAC, Sun Belt
February 21st, 2024 at 1:14 PM ^
Michigan winning this year gave the B1G a whole lot more clout than it would have had otherwise, especially if the $EC had won it again.
February 20th, 2024 at 9:06 PM ^
Crazy how we won the last national championship before the Rose Bowl joined the Alliance (as it was then called) to form the BCS and the last national championship before the Pac-12 imploded and the CFP expanded to 12 teams.
If only we had won the 2013 national championship (i.e., the last year of the BCS).
February 21st, 2024 at 8:29 AM ^
It's kind of hilarious how bad that team was and yet there was a "Brady Hoke Horseshoe" chance that they do something like go 11-1 in the regular season.
The losses:
Penn State 43-40 in OT
MSU 29-6 (only blowout)
Nebraska 17-13 Nebraska scores a TD with 2:03 left.
Iowa 24-21 Michigan blows a 21-7 lead
Ohio State 42-41 Michigan goes for 2 and blows it (and then maddeningly calls an excellent 2 point play in the blowout loss to Kansas State in the bowl game).
It would have been the luckiest season in college football (Michigan was already lucky to beat Akron, UConn and Northwestern), but they were a handful of plays away from it.
February 20th, 2024 at 9:19 PM ^
Sadly I kind of feel the same way
February 21st, 2024 at 12:07 AM ^
This 👆
February 20th, 2024 at 9:00 PM ^
16 is too inclusive, and will make the regular season games less important. In fact, 12 is a lot and I think 8 is closer to the intention of having the best teams play. 4 was maybe too little and kept out teams like undefeated FSU, and 8 seems better.
February 20th, 2024 at 9:06 PM ^
With 12, the regular season is already not that important.
They clearly did not take the regular season in to consideration when they came up with that number.
February 20th, 2024 at 9:10 PM ^
Four was the perfect number. Decided it on the field without devaluing the regular season. FSU getting screwed was unfortunate, but if such a thing only happens once every ten years, I can live with that.
February 20th, 2024 at 9:11 PM ^
honestly 2 was a good number, and that this season ended 1 vs 2 in the end felt right
February 21st, 2024 at 11:34 AM ^
Respectfully, I disagree. Two was NOT a good number. It's far too subjective - since you had five Power conferences.
I think the best number is eight - all Power Conference champions are "in" - it's an auto bid. Each conference decides how to determine their champion. Add a G5 representative - and, fill it out with two at-large teams.
It then would have been simple. If you're in a P5 conference - win your conference and you're in. If you don't win your conference - then, you had your chance but didn't execute well enough. Period.
The CFP Selection Committee could figure out which G5 team and the at-large bids - that's it.
February 21st, 2024 at 1:17 PM ^
Frankly, I think 1 is the right number, because "when the old season's over, it'll be Michigan again. Michigan."
February 20th, 2024 at 10:11 PM ^
This year was an exception until the 4th quarter of the NC game when we got tired of Washington hanging around. Over the years too many playoff games are blowouts.
The problem with so many teams is you will get lots of bad games. It has seemed for quite some time that only a handful of teams are at an elite level and even then, perhaps only one or two teams are truly elite.
Don't know about anyone else but for my family December is a month where we have many social engagements to say nothing of how the NFL plays Saturday games on a couple of weekends. 16 teams? Are they planning on playing four games the same day? How is this going to work?
I think the best way to do a playoff would be to have the first few rounds in each conference to crown a conference championship. Then have the conference winners do a four team playoff like what we have experienced for several years now.
And if ND is not in a conference, then screw 'em. Do like everyone else or forfeit your right to participate.
February 21st, 2024 at 5:09 AM ^
The problem w so many teams, is so many games and the impact that will have on the student-athletes. Top players will get injured in early round games that shouldn't even be played.
It just absolute greed.
February 21st, 2024 at 7:35 AM ^
Perfect excuse to get out said family engagements or to have the game on. I’m not really seeing the problem?
February 21st, 2024 at 11:37 AM ^
The game format for (I think) the next few seasons has already been set.
So - for the first round (5 through 12) - on campus sites - it's four games during a weekend. One game on Friday night - the other three on Saturday. The same approach is for the quarterfinals - one game on Friday evening - and three on Saturday.
February 20th, 2024 at 10:42 PM ^
8 teams, agree
February 21st, 2024 at 8:09 AM ^
The positive on the 12 team set-up is that it does offer very meaningful rewards to finish in the top 4 (a bye) and also 5-8 (a home game), which somewhat addresses the alleged devaluation of big regular season match-ups.
February 21st, 2024 at 9:16 AM ^
Yep. 16 and 8 really do penalize the championship game participants unfairly.
Petitti wants more inventory, he doesn't see anything past that.
February 20th, 2024 at 10:53 PM ^
Amen.
Six is ideal but eight could be defensible. Twelve or sixteen is too many to be crown the winner anything but a tournament champ because it disregards the total body of work over a season. The BCS and four team playoff at least preserved that even though there were almost always questions over the last team to be chosen. Usually a case could be made for the number five and six ranked teams as their resumes were close. But once you got beyond the top six it was obvious that those teams didn’t deserve to be in the conversation as national title contenders. This is just a money grab that further professionalizes the game and eats away at the charm that makes college different from the NFL.
February 21st, 2024 at 9:18 AM ^
I also had written 6 teams would also be good ( 2 bye + 4 ) but didn't want to be all over the place.
February 20th, 2024 at 11:17 PM ^
The regular season stopped being important a long time ago.
Alabama has won multiple national championships without even winning their conference. One of them....they didn't even win their division.
Ohio State almost got a chance to play for a national championship in 2022, even though they lost their division and conference. Lost the last game of the season, but still got into the playoffs.
Teams are routinely rewarded for playing in weak conferenced OR playing crap out of conference games.
At least with 12 teams, we have the playoffs to truly give us a bunch of very good games, and the champions will have to navigate a much harder path every year.
February 21st, 2024 at 2:07 AM ^
I agree give me 4 on campus games over:
Bama vs Georgia part 2
Lsu vs Bama part 2
Clemson vs Bama for the 3rd time in 4 seasons
OSU vs Clemson for the 2nd time in 3 years
Some actual variety and not ESPN talking heads picking 120 teams that stay home that didnt get a shot at the eventual champion. Those on campus games are going to be so much fun.
You are literally turning the SEC invitational into a cross section of college football!
February 21st, 2024 at 6:08 AM ^
I think just the opposite will occur. Take last year for example. The second to last CFP rankings had Notre Dame at #16 with a 9-3 record. How many other schools can now make the claim that they should be one of the 16?
Iowa at 10-3?
NC State at 9-3?
Oklahoma State at 9-4?
Liberty 13-0?
SMU 11-2?
Going to 16 is going to create a whole lot of Florida State scenarios for the schools who just missed the cut.
February 21st, 2024 at 12:03 PM ^
Florida State was undefeated. You can't compare that to this. If 10-3 Iowa wanted a spot in the playoff they should have won more games. An undefeated G5 team like Liberty would likely be in, especially if it went to 16.
February 21st, 2024 at 5:38 PM ^
You really do not believe that those on the outside looking in with similar records are not going to be throwing up all sorts of stats showing that they are better than a school inside of the group? As the margin of error grows, that is going to include more teams who are sitting with very similar records all comparing themselves for one or two spots.
Comparisons, wait until something like the 4th best SEC team makes it and say only 1 ACC team does and that loser of the ACC championship game has the same record and such. The more that it is subjective, the more people will be legitimately able to claim they were cheated.
February 20th, 2024 at 9:05 PM ^
Jesus, can we do away with all this foreplay, and just get to the Big10 + SEC superconference already?
All these changes to playoffs and will they/won't they conference moves is just temporary for what's inevitably going to happen.
February 20th, 2024 at 9:08 PM ^
Agreed. Just rip the Band-Aid off and get it over with already. Chip Kelly was right - football should break away from the rest of college athletics and hire its own governance board. The have not conferences would still be alive.
February 20th, 2024 at 9:26 PM ^
I'm not trying to categorize schools as "less than", but it amazes me that schools like Purdue, Rutgers, Mississippi State and South Carolina seem to be just as "all in" on these megalomaniac plans as everyone else.
Because, if we ever DO get to the 32 team "Super League" (not that this is something I'm rooting for, but it does seem inevitable), some of the current B1G and SEC schools aren't going to make the cut.
Ugh, I really don't like all of this.
February 20th, 2024 at 9:48 PM ^
I don’t remember the lesser teams sticking up for Michigan during the regular season. Rather, I recall the Illini and Purdues trying to sink our championship season with their hyper dramatic sign gate BS.
I can’t wait to leave those peasant schools to fend for themselves. What kind of TV deal will the CW channel give Northwestern, Illinois and Purdue etc. when Michigan, OSU and PSU aren’t transferring wealth to them anymore?
February 20th, 2024 at 9:54 PM ^
Your 1st paragraph is a separate discussion - but your 2nd paragraph, Is everything about incremental TV dollars?
Northwestern, Illinois, Purdue etc --- what they provide to Michigan, both the school and their fans: (1) football games, half of which are played in Ann Arbor, (2) that are of a regional nature, (3) that are Michigan wins much more often than losses, (4) and easy for Midwest-based Michigan fans to travel to (the 50% of the time they aren't in AA).
There's some sort of value to that? I hope? Even MLB, there's some pooling of revenue. The Yankees see value in the existance of the Devil Rays, the Dodgers see value in the Rockies and D-Backs being around.
February 20th, 2024 at 11:03 PM ^
It's about loyalty and surviving the changing landscape. The lesser teams that are fortunate to be in the Big 10 shouldn't knife the revenue generating teams in the back because the revenue generators can leave. Before last season, I wouldn't have been in favor of a super conference because it will destroy the lesser Big 10 teams. But now? They showed us that we're on our own.
The players are going to be paid from the revenue. If there's a super conference on the horizon, the best chances for survival will be to join and cut out the fat. If Michigan refuses to join out of solidarity with Illinois, we'll become Illinois. I don't want to be Illinois.
February 20th, 2024 at 11:23 PM ^
OK - but let's say this Connor Stalions thing didn't happen a few months ago*. Are you saying that Michigan would/should be loyal to NW, Illinois, Purdue etc in such a case? Your 2nd paragraph reads, to me, that your answer would still be "no."
------
* I've said this before, but I'm not completely unsympathetic to schools reacting against U-M last fall. If an MSU analyst was at the ECU @ Michigan game, on the ECU sideline --- folks here would have been INCENSED, to the level of wanting to burn MSU to the ground. And they wouldn't have been 100% wrong.
February 21st, 2024 at 12:03 AM ^
Sorry, I'm still not seeing the problem with scouting future opponents. Even if MSU does it from the sideline, in season, whatever. It happens at every level and if you don't think Saban and Smart were scouting each other by every means available I think you're naive.
Maybe if they had done some scouting it might have been 49-3.
February 21st, 2024 at 2:15 AM ^
Hey Hey Hey what is all this 3 point talk about?
FAKE NEWS! ;-)
February 21st, 2024 at 2:13 AM ^
There were 100,000 smart phones and a nationally televised game to catch anything you needed on video. You think we are dumb enough, like ESPN and all the victim theater participants in the big ten, to think standing on the sidelines gives any tangible advantage? People here eat up a lot of shit the media feeds them so maybe the vocal minority may have gobbled it up who knows.
February 21st, 2024 at 5:27 AM ^
Folks here are more upset at the fact that MSU had the audacity to claim stealing signs was a safety issue, after the fact 7 players jumped a UM player after the game two years ago in a tunnel. Its the hypocrisy from low life Spartans that a lot of us hate.
Look, I get your stance. Having Connor on the sidelines to steal signs is a no no. He needed to be fired. But let’s not act like other teams are not doing it. There’s valid info out there that UM signs were stolen and teams known to be stealing signs: Illinois, Purdue, OSU, MSU. How UM got the signs was unsavory but it’s a complete injustice when you have teams tampering with players, paying for players via inducements, buying players hookers etc.
Also, while we’re on the subject of whether the process of obtaining signs is illegal or not, how is hiring a former coach (Helow at Michigan prior) weeks before the semi college football game (Alabama)? That seems as bad if not worse, no?
February 21st, 2024 at 9:55 AM ^
if you know football, it wouldn’t make a rats ass worth the difference as you’re still supposed to hide your signals and change them probably opponent to opponent given this is gone on forever. it was nice that Michigan could jam it down everybody’s throat and show that they were just a good team not like the nattering knobs would have you believe. The people I respect had a sober view of it.
February 22nd, 2024 at 7:47 AM ^
Home cooking on ref's and timekeepers might be a bit more of an unfair advantage than someone who actually hasn't been proven to have violated any written rule. If we are going to seek resignations on the spirit of competitive fairness let's get out the laundry list of outright gamesmanship deployed all-time in the league since until ruled against each instance was (at that moment) an unfair advantage.
February 22nd, 2024 at 7:26 AM ^
Michigan should hand deliver team autographed fainting couches to every Bigten school that was the wind beneath Lil Titti's wings. Make bubble wrap an option for their QB's.
I am concerned about shared, coach-vetted signals being shared in a league wide cabal and the potential harm Michigan FB players faced. Not to mention the competitive advantages of fake remote classes, steroids, "60 minutes of unnecessary roughness" and the buying of superior 5 star players deployed against UM's collegiate athletes for unfair advantage.
I am sure the NCAA and Bigten will be coming out any Day with commensurate vigor on remedying this written rule violating tilt.
February 21st, 2024 at 6:14 AM ^
The B1G will never let that happen. Do you think the conference is going to sit back and let Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State and say Oregon, Washington, USC and UCLA each bring in say $70 million from the networks while everyone else gets say $35 million? [These are imaginary numbers.]
The major football schools would have a huge competitive advantage in the other sports simply because football was funneling so much more money to those schools. No, the conference will drag along the Rutgers, Purdue's and so on simply because the conference relationship extends beyond football.
February 21st, 2024 at 9:53 AM ^
Not how I see it. B1G and SEC have already consolidated the power and the schools that matter. The first step will be for the B1G and SEC to make a league, which includes everyone. So South Carolina and Rutgers get to come. That's 36 teams, not 32. Not sure why you decided it would be 32, other than to lament that Northwestern, Vanderbilt, Rutgers and someone else will be left out in the cold.
Eventually (actually, immediately) everyone from the ACC and Big 12 will beg in. If they agree to our terms (our=Power 2 rulers of the new league) then we'll let them in. They will be 2nd class. Yes, eventually Rutgers will be second class again as well, but they will at least have a head start over the likes of Oklahoma State and Virginia Tech.
In the end, the new league will be all the SEC and Big Ten are angling for right now: A national football league where the top 20 schools rule everything. That's what they're currently asking for. If they get it, then there's no need to break off.
The interesting one will be Notre Dame. What will be the breaking point for them to swallow their pride and join something that resembles a conference?
February 21st, 2024 at 12:22 PM ^
The Big Ten currently has at least 8 teams who are earning way way more money from football than they are worth and won the lottery happening to be placed in one of the country's best most prestigious leagues.
February 20th, 2024 at 9:09 PM ^
I get the feeling that Petitti is out of his fucking league. He's thinks he's working with Sankey now, but Sankey will stab him in the back the first chance he gets.
I'd be very wary of any partnership with the SEC.
February 20th, 2024 at 9:10 PM ^
Petitti has been out of his league the whole time, the tide is just washing him out deeper
February 20th, 2024 at 9:14 PM ^
The B1G sits on a mountain of money, so Petitti has a ton of resources at his disposal to hire all of the lawyers and consultants he needs and ensure that the conference's interests aren't compromised.
February 21st, 2024 at 11:46 AM ^
If an attorney or consultant provides a recommendation to their client - there's nothing that says the client needs to follow the recommendation that was provided.
This describes Petitti.
So - there's an issue with Michigan football - uncertainty regarding whether an old NCAA rule / guideline, which might have been removed in total - was broken. What do they do? Let's bring in ADs with an ax to grind - send Michigan out of the room - and let the ax grinders air their grievances together to come up with some kind of penalty - then, just tell Michigan "this is what we came up with."
Yeah - Petitti makes great decisions. /s
February 20th, 2024 at 9:15 PM ^
Pretty sure Petitti has sent Home Depot gift cards to Nigerian Princes several times in his life.
February 20th, 2024 at 9:22 PM ^
I don’t understand this. That’s good, right?
February 20th, 2024 at 10:05 PM ^
It is if you're pretending to be a Nigerian prince.
February 20th, 2024 at 11:24 PM ^
It's also pretty good if you actually are a Nigerian prince.