No one’s happy, everyone’s complaining. The commissioners haven’t liked each other from the jump, and the coaches are simply following suit.
Never have the 34 billionaire universities in the Big Ten and SEC been so ticked off at a system of their making.
And this was before the latest College Football Playoff poll was released
Tuesday night, where the Big Ten and SEC had a combined seven teams in the Top 12. Even that isn't enough to tamper the tantrums.Haven’t you money-hungry hucksters done enough in the NIL era to inadvertently — or, intentionally; it’s still up for debate — destroy college football as we know it?
You created Frankenstein, now live with it.
No
more whining about the CFP selection committee, or my schedule vs. their schedule, or our conference values vs. their conference values. No more empty promises and promotion, no more big ideas leading to little or no return.
This is your system, shut it and spot the ball.
But there was Florida, a day after the CFP announced it was officially moving to a 24-team field in 2027, canceling a home-and-home series with Notre Dame. This great, stupendous, exciting and one-of-a-kind playoff was supposed to enhance the regular season.
More access to the CFP means bigger and better regular season nonconference games. If four-loss teams will reach the playoff, why wouldn’t schools schedule better nonconference games?
Florida dumping Notre Dame wasn’t the first strange scheduling move, and won’t be the last. A day earlier, Notre Dame announced a home-and-home series with Illinois. Not rival Michigan, or any other Power conference team that could stress the Irish.
But Illinois, which earlier this season lost to Purdue at home, giving the Boilermakers their first Big Ten win since 2023. The same Illinois and coach Bret Bielema, who after beating Nebraska — which these days, would be like beating Creighton, if Creighton played football — declared if the Illini played in the SEC, they’d be in the CFP.
That means Duke — which has beaten the Illini by a combined 30 points in 2025-26 — would be on top of the SEC.
Yeah, baby, Duke wants Alabama.
But right on cue, Illinois adding Notre Dame allows Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti to crow about his declaration that Big Ten schools will schedule up in nonconference games once the 24-team format is approved. Case in point: Illinois.
Which is more than can be said for the SEC of late.
A week ago, Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz flatly said, “I’m a 24-team playoff guy. You have to provide more access for fanbases.”
On Tuesday, Drinkwitz whipped around and complained about the loss of conference championship games, a direct result of expanding to 24 teams.
“Why are we associated with conferences anymore if we’re not playing for a conference championship?” he said. ‘If the point now is just to be playing into a sea of 24, are we just doing it for scheduling affiliation?”
As the great Slim Pickens once said, what in the wide, wide world of sports is going on here?
SEC commissioner Greg Sankey jumped on the "Finebaum Show" on the SEC Network, and complained about — ready for this? — the Big Ten complaining about the SEC complaining about the CFP not giving the SEC enough credit for its conference schedule.
Sankey also complained about fans complaining about SEC officiating, which has been sketch at best this season. He also complained about the talent hired by television partner ESPN — play-by-play, color and rules analysts — and how they’re complaining about the poor officiating.
I’m getting loopy just trying to explain it.
Do I really have to remind everyone the presidents and chancellors of the Big Ten and SEC refused for decades to pay players, then decided to throw open the doors to NIL and free player movement at the same time? What could go wrong?
That they spent hundreds of millions in litigation, and all they got for it was — in no certain order — unlimited player movement, more than $2 billion owed in back pay to players, revenue sharing, uncontrollable private NIL, an unhinged, no rules system that local judges seized control of, and of course, non-stop whining and complaining.
And these dopes are worried about a selection committee using metrics and the eye test to decide that Utah is better than a two- or three-loss SEC or Big Ten team?
My goodness, the dreaded 24-team format can’t get here soon enough. Because then there will be nothing to complain about.
Until a five-loss SEC or Big Ten team gets left out.
Matt Hayes is the senior national college football writer for USA TODAY Sports Network. Follow him on X at @MattHayesCFB. Listen to him daily, from 12-2 p.m., on 1010XL-Jacksonville.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Big Ten, SEC broke college football. Now they won’t stop whining about it
