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College football, as it has been for numerous years now, is in a precarious place. Many of the stakeholders have different agendas and visions for college football in the immediate and long-term future, and that may lead to some even more significant changes, specifically to the College Football Playoff (CFP).
A growing divide in the sport appears to be forming between the SEC and Big Ten and then the rest of college football. While the ACC and Big 12 certainly have varying degrees of influence, the voices of the Big Ten and SEC, as the two highest-revenue-generating and most popular conferences, are certainly louder than everyone else.
As a result, the pair of conferences has seemingly formed an alliance, and that could become more official in the coming years if certain officials get their way. Specifically, there have reportedly been discussions for the Big Ten and SEC to face each other in ‘play-in' games as a part of a proposed ‘4-4-2-2-1′ College Football Playoff format in which the two conferences would be guaranteed four automatic qualifiers each, while the Big 12 and ACC would each get two. The only at-large team would get the final spot.
“In this revenue-generating model, SEC and Big Ten officials have discussed holding season-ending play-in style games pitting their third, fourth, fifth and sixth-place finishers against one another, with the winners gaining the league’s final two playoff spots. Also, in this format, the SEC would likely move to a nine-game conference schedule,” Yahoo! Sports' Ross Dellenger wrote.
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“Both of these concepts generate more revenue at a time when schools are at their height of financial stress. How much revenue? That remains uncertain, but ESPN is gearing up to finalize an offer with the SEC of as much $5 million per school annually in additional revenue for the SEC’s ninth conference game.”
Unfortunately for those officials who support this model, it is apparently not very popular with the SEC's coaches, many of whom instead voiced support for the ‘5+11' model, which does not technically guarantee any one conference a spot in the playoff.
The 5+11 would grant five conference champions a spot in the 16-team playoff, while there would be 11 at-large bids. This model closely resembles the current 12-team format, which gives four conference champions a place in the playoff and has eight at-large bids. The 5+11 is not particularly popular among the Big Ten administrators, though, and many of whom said they would not support it if the SEC continued to play eight conference games, compared to the nine the Big Ten and Big 12 play.
How these things shake out is anyone's guess, but it will certainly change how things operate in college football regardless of the outcome.
