WHATEVER THEY DECIDE IN THE COLLEGE FOOTBALL MUCK, I’VE LOST ALL INTEREST
Look, the Big Ten and SEC want four automatic bids — if not more — in a 16-team playoff system that looks so profoundly unfair that we'll ignore Tony Petitti and Greg Sankey during worthless meetings
No longer do I give a damn who reaches the College Football Playoff. Insert teams. Play the games. I’ll watch. If the Big Ten and SEC each demand four or more automatic berths, fine. If the Big 12 and Atlantic Coast Conference take them to court, fine. If President Trump appoints Nick Saban, good. If Saban says no after his wife balks, good.
Truthfully, though I enjoy the sport, a system of 16 programs is bloated and calculated for greed and power. The major commissioners, the SEC’s Greg Sankey and the Big Ten’s Tony Petitti, are representing massive universities that know ESPN will pay them almost 60 percent in a $7.8 billion deal that begins next year. Each politician wants lockdown bids to improve the already vast likelihood of one league or the other winning a national title, while keeping coaches and athletic directors and presidents happy. Who cares if an idiocracy rules, dismissing merit from season to season?
The top four teams can flip coins and determine seedings. I don’t care. At the bottom, Alabama gets in because, as Steely Dan said in the yacht-rock song, they got a name for the winners in the world. Give Boise State a place, somewhere. Let teams play campus games in the first round. Use the usual bowl games. Let me know when two teams will play for a championship, and if it’s not Ohio State and Texas, I’ll be shocked but I’ll still peek in because the games are better than all the b.s. Even when quarterbacks transfer and play for three schools, as Dillon Gabriel did.
The commissioners are culprits who prefer to strike deals with each other, perhaps allowing only the Big Ten and SEC in the tournament. Imagine that: Eight and eight, baby, which equals 16. Why would Sankey and Petitti care about the other leagues? “Our first goal would be wanting to play Big Ten teams,” LSU coach Brian Kelly said. “As coaches, I can speak for the room, we want to play Big Ten teams. So we’ve made our voice clear. Our ADs know that we would like that. Our commissioner obviously heard us as well.”
Create a Paul Finebaum brownie agreement. Play the best and earn an improved ranking. When the politicians listen and speak, by the way, what are they saying? “I do think there's a need for change,” Sankey said. “How do you make those decisions? It's hard, and we trust the playoff committee to do that, and I respect the people in there, so this isn't a criticism of the people. This is wanting to understand the decisions. We have to have better clarity on the criteria that inform those decisions.”
Better clarity on the criteria?
How about SMU is in and Ole Miss is out? Is that clear?
“How you qualify for the postseason impacts the regular season or how you perceive you qualify for the postseason, what factors you think are important,” Petitti said. “I think that informs the way you think about the regular season, they’re just downstream. They’re all tied together, right?”
Downstream, he said. Tied together. Was he better off working for Rob Manfred?
Point being, Sankey runs a conference that has lost recent titles to Ohio State and Michigan after winning five of the previous six years. “I think I have a responsibility to push, and I think my [SEC] membership has a responsibility and a desire to push me,” he said. “And that is a hard issue if you want to go inside what it's like to sit in this role. I think about the responsibility I have here (to the league) and I think about responsibility more broadly all the time. We'll continue to try to provide perspective and information to our members and help them guide the decision. And ultimately, I recognize I'm the one who ends up typically in front of a podium explaining not just myself but ourselves. So good luck to me.”
Good luck to Greg. He and Petitti might need it if real politicians are in the fray. Said Rep. Brendan Boyle (D., Pa.): “Let me state this as clearly as I can: the Big Ten and SEC should be very, very careful about some of the decisions they’re about to make. Because they appear hellbent on ruining major college football, I think they need congressional hearings into their collusion.”
Congressional hearings? Collusion? It’s a good thing 2025 includes a 12-team playoff, because otherwise, the season might not start in time. Sometimes, the wackiest heads come up with the best solutions. “The best system with 16 should be the 16 best,” said Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin. “I don’t know exactly how that’s figured out.”
Have an honest committee pick 16 teams, without automatics. Correct? “If we do want to have a national tournament, we do have to get everyone on the same page and everyone has to work together,” Florida athletic director Scott Stricklin said.
Expect Sankey and Petitti to win many push-button bids at some juncture. Hallelujah if you’re actually watching this muck. Just so they know, Texas coach Steve Sarkisian threw a squeeze gun into the circus. “I don’t think we’ll ever see an undefeated national champion again,” he said. “I understand not everybody’s on the same page right now. Hopefully, we can get to that point.”
How is that remotely possible? I would prefer to watch Bill Belichick in the sand with Jordon Hudson. In his world, he’ll try to win all his games at North Carolina.
And then he’ll be invited.
###
Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects.