The absurdity of absolute power. Big Ten, SEC fight to shape College Football Playoff

USA Today

3 days ago

LAS VEGAS — The Big Ten and SEC control the future of the College Football Playoff.
The Big Ten and the SEC can't agree on anything.
Which tracks about just how you think it would in Sin City, driving directly into the theater of the absurd.
'I'm not going to put any deadline on it,' Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti said Tuesday of negotiations for the new CFP format, while opening Big Ten Media Days at Mandalay Bay Resort.
I know this is going to shock you, but SEC commissioner Greg Sankey made it clear last week during SEC Media Days that, 'We have a deadline of Dec. 1.'
Just when you thought the great College Football Playoff format debate couldn't devolve to more ridiculous levels, Indiana coach Curt Cignetti entered the chat and changed everything.
Forget about the Big Ten and its desired 16-team format that focuses on automatic qualifiers (four each for the Big Ten and SEC) and the need for CFP play-in games during championship week.
Forget about the SEC and its desire for 11 at-large selections of the 16, based heavily on strength of schedule.
Cignetti wants everyone to know that the CFP selection committee has too much power in the process. The very committee that last year selected his 11-win team – with one win against a team with a winning record – to the exclusive party.
The same guy who, when asked Tuesday about Indiana dropping a non-conference game against big, bad Virginia for a Championship Subdivision directional school, responded with, 'We figured we'd just adopt the SEC scheduling philosophy.'
I swear I'm not making this up.
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But at this point, nothing should be surprising in this ever-more-absurd cock walk. Each ego-driven, billion dollar conference trying to exert power over the other, in a blatantly awkward swinging dictator contest.
The Big Ten doesn't want to be seen as the SEC's little brother. The SEC doesn't want to be pushed into a corner, and bend the knee to the conference it has dominated on the field for decades.
Sankey touted the SEC's historical strength of schedule in defense of 11 at-large selections. Winning 14 national titles since 2000 doesn't hurt, either.
Petitti responded by declaring the Big Ten played in eight of the 11 CFP games in 2024, had the four most viewed television games on the season and seven of the top 10.
Then he dropped the ultimate "scoreboard" hammer: 'We just stand by what we do in the Big Ten. I think the national results have shown the last couple of seasons.'
Translation: the Big Ten has won the last two national titles. The SEC has done … what exactly?
There's nothing logical about this public spat, nothing tangible that can be easily negotiated with clear minds or paid off with more money — which a 16-team CFP most certainly brings. This is about superiority and inferiority, and where the SEC and Big Ten fit.
No matter the collateral damage.
Imagine you're Rich Clark, executive director of the College Football Playoff. A distinguished 38-year career in the Air Force, retired as a Lieutenant General — the second-highest general officer rank.
You're minding your own business at Big Ten media days, sitting quietly in the back of the large ballroom when some schlub who just picked up his first power conference coaching job starts throwing darts at your committee.
A committee the SEC and Big Ten played a critical role in creating and developing, and growing into the singular, insular monster it has become.
So I asked this titan of service to his country, and frankly, to the Big Ten and SEC and every other college football conference, what it was like to watch Cignetti kneecap his committee. Was it difficult to watch?
'Yeah,' Clark said, smiling wide — and then he stopped himself. Because like all military personnel, he knows there's oder and there's consequences for going outside it.
'The committee selected Indiana,' Clark continued, 'And I think it was the right decision, too.'
Would you look at that, a lesson in swallowing ego and pride for the greater good.
No swinging dictators necessary.
Matt Hayes is the senior national college football writer for USA TODAY Sports Network. Follow him on X at @MattHayesCFB.