Everyone wants to fix the College Football Playoff, but no one seems to know how. There's a good reason for this. That's because the College Football Playoff isn't broken…college football is broken.
On Saturday, college football avid and casual fans alike watched two games that were largely decided before the big game happened. Of course, the possibility of disappointment always looms, but the first quarters Ole Miss victory with a score of 41-10 Tulane or Oregon victory with a score of 51-34 James Madison quickly clarified how these games would play out. These were results that did nothing to slow the ongoing tide of college football literacy, which has spent the last few weeks gnashing its teeth in despair over the possibility of these breakthroughs happening and how it will all turn out. keep in mind.
But clutching pearls, keeping silent and trembling are aimed at the wrong goal. What we're seeing in the College Football Playoff is the result of a much larger problem in the sport. College football has always been a player-heavy sport, and while we're seeing a more even distribution of that weight at the top thanks to the NIL and the transfer portal (college football's GLP-1), overall the sport is heavier than ever before.
Resources and talent are shifting in one direction
Today there is much more talent available and much more money coming in than ever before, and it is all overwhelmingly flowing in one direction.
If you look at the top recruiting classes for the 2026 cycle, you'll notice a couple of things. First, for the first time since 2008, the nation's top class is outside the SEC. USC received the award this year, becoming the first non-SEC program to do so since Miami even when. Moreover, Alabama is the only SEC school to finish in the top four, but while that's great to see in terms of talent spread, it ignores the bigger picture.
Sure, the Big Ten ranks first, but 23 of the top 35 classes call the Big Ten or SEC home. The only non-Big Ten and SEC schools in the top 20 were Our LadyMiami, Florida, North Carolina, Texas Tech And Clemson. Of those six, only Notre Dame and Miami are in the top 10, with Miami coming in at No. 10.
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John Talty
Damage caused by mass redistribution
Recruiting rankings aren't the only area where the Big Ten and SEC have consolidated power. This is just another result of this consolidation. Over the past 15 years, the Big Ten has added Nebraska, Maryland, Rutgers, UCLAUniversity of Southern California, Oregon and Washington into the fold. Taking the final four essentially killed the Pac-12, and taking Nebraska had a destabilizing effect on the Big 12. Instability that the SEC was all too happy to take advantage of by poaching Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas And Texas A&M from the league over the past 15 years too. Both leagues will still exist in 2026, but mostly in name only. Obviously, the Big 12 has been hit much harder than the Pac-12, but the league has had all of its biggest brands taken away, putting it at a disadvantage when it comes to finding a TV deal, causing the gap to widen.
Perhaps that is why, although we all had to endure the horrors of two non-competitive football matches on Saturday, Arizona Kenny Dillingham called every possible billionaire who wanted to buy him a new lineup. Because that's where we are now with NIL. The sport has dragged its feet and ignored the giant tidal wave bearing down on it for decades, only to rush forward full speed ahead, openly paying players (a portion of) what they are owed. Only, you know, there are virtually no rules or guidelines that everyone can follow, and no real way to enforce them. Whose fault is it? I don't know? Everyone?
Either way, right now people are looking at the Group of Five as a playoff problem, but trust me: If finances continue to work the way they work in this sport, it's only a matter of time before the ACC and Big 12 get the same treatment people give Tulane and James Madison. In the end, it was the Big Ten and the SEC that were given full control over the future of the format as a compromise to simply allow the ACC and Big 12 to continue to exist.
Big Ten, SEC will win in the end
But the truth is that the Big Ten and SEC have always controlled the College Football Playoff. The Big Ten and SEC have won nine of the first 11 College Football Playoffs. Clemson is the only team outside of those leagues to win it, and has done so twice. Of course, Clemson has only made one appearance since the NCAA stopped forcing transfers to sit out a year after switching schools, and hasn't won a single playoff game at all. Most of this has to do with Clemson's stubbornness, but it's appropriate nonetheless.
To further emphasize this point, of the 22 teams that played in the College Football Playoff National Championship, 16 are currently in the Big Ten or SEC. Clemson (4 times) TCU and Notre Dame are the only teams not in those leagues (Oregon and Washington did so while still members of the Pac-12 but are now in the Big Ten).
As the Big Ten and SEC expanded, the Big 12 and ACC did what they had to do to keep up. All of this has led to bloated continent-spanning conferences where you only play half the league each season, leading to ridiculous tiebreaker scenarios that end in five losses. Duke an ACC win that puts those damn James Madison Dukes on the field!
So what's the solution? How can we fix all this? I don't know if you can, but I believe there is a natural outcome from all of this that at least brings about some balance.
You just let nature take its course. Let the Big Ten and SEC finish what they started. Whether you're excited about it or not – and believe me, I don't — The Super League, or whatever stupid name you give it, is approaching. I don't know if this will be the result of a hostile takeover of the Big Ten and SEC stealing all the remaining valuable brands after the current television contracts expired, or if it will be the result of a compromise between the four leagues that want to leave the NCAA and form their own, fully professional league. But whatever the method and whatever the final composition of participating schools, it will happen.
And when that happens, your College Football Playoff will finally be “fixed.” However, the explosions will continue.
