There's no one truly in power of college football, so the SEC has taken charge, but the rest of college football is not taking kindly to the conference's self-proclaimed authority.
Brett McMurphy reported Tuesday that conference commissioners, including the SEC's Greg Sankey, decided to start over while in the midst of discussions on how the College Football Playoff will be formatted come 2026. The SEC wants things a certain way that will obviously benefit its own members, while the rest of college football also wants things its own way where the SEC doesn't get any unfair advantages.
The SEC and Big Ten were set on four automatic qualifiers, but then SEC coaches were eventually against that model. Regardless of the ultimate outcome, though, the SEC wants more of a benefit for strength of schedule as it boasts to be the toughest conference in college football.
One model to do that would be the top 16 teams making the CFP regardless of conference. Anyone who follows college football knows a straight seeding for the CFP would send a flood of SEC teams to play for a national title. That would obviously benefit SEC teams while other conferences get left out.
Other college football conferences are rightfully upset as the SEC throws tantrums to get its way. However, the SEC has also earned its right to have the loudest voice at the table. There's chaos with no leadership, and the SEC is the only one stepping up to take charge with no one else to put it in its place.
Regardless, though, even as Sooner Nation is now part of the SEC power, it's still annoying for any college football fan to not even know how the national champion of their favorite sport will be decided and to have that process constantly altered.
College football world reacts to CFP chaos
Great. Now instead of 4 SEC teams, we’ll get 7+ because of “sTRenGth oF SChEDuLe mETrIcs”…
— Buckeye Irrationalist (@BuckeyeRational) June 18, 2025
Maybe the SEC, who hasn’t sniffed a national title the last 2 years, should pipe down.
— J Merk (@RealMerked8) June 18, 2025
Strength of schedule is fine until you tout a win over a top 15 Texas A&M in Week 2 who ends up 7-5 lol
— Drew (@DrewCrabtree12) June 18, 2025
These things are too reliant on preseason rankings which are usually nonsense.
It helps that the network that controls the narratives has a financial stake in the SEC lol https://t.co/QMhyZMpwmu
The SEC when it doesn’t get all 16 schools into a 12 team College Football Playoff pic.twitter.com/o4MsO7aHoH
— Pete Fiutak (@PeteFiutak) May 31, 2025
Illinois coach Bret Bielema, speaking to a small group of reporters here in Chicago about potential CFP expansion: pic.twitter.com/DrBLUG27Nq
— Nicole Auerbach (@NicoleAuerbach) June 17, 2025
Josh Pate really went in on the possibilities.
The CFP model the SEC is (reportedly) pushing would be terrible for CFB and would neuter the regular season pic.twitter.com/35Rp3LjAM6
— Josh Pate (@JoshPateCFB) June 18, 2025
“That’s good for SEC head coaches, and that’s about all it’s good for.” @JoshPateCFB on the 5+11 College Football Playoff Model pic.twitter.com/s7UUGOFLJd
— The Next Round (@NextRoundLive) June 18, 2025
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