Mandel: SEC going to 9 games might stave off Big Ten’s harebrained Playoff plan

The SEC finally going to nine conference games is great for the fans, for the sport and for ESPN’s ratings. It could also help stave off a potential disaster.

It could be the thing that gets Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti to back off his harebrained College Football Playoff proposals.

At Big Ten Media Days last month, one coach after another complained about having to play an additional conference game and the supposed disadvantage it causes them with the selection committee. (Conveniently ignoring that their league got more berths than the SEC last season.) They, as well as Petitti himself, used that talking point in lobbying for a 16-team field (before that somehow jumped to 28) comprised primarily of automatic berths determined by the league’s own conference standings.

“When you get to a system that’s increasing the at-larges and the work of a selection committee, that’s when you need to understand how we’re competing in the regular season,” said Petitti. “Look, at the end of the day, it’s really simple math. With 18 schools and nine conference (games) — we’re losing nine more games to start.”

If that’s really the main concern, then this long national nightmare should be over. No more disadvantage with the committee, no need to preordain that some conferences get four AQs while others get two. Or to make the thing big enough to ensure an unranked, 7-5 Michigan team gets to play in a 6 vs. 27 first-round game.

SEC commissioner Greg Sankey has already made it known that his league supports the much simpler 5+11 concept (five AQs for conference champions, 11 at-larges.)

“We have preferred a 16-team format … with the maximum number of at-large spots,” Sankey reiterated on Paul Finebaum’s show Thursday.

It’s no coincidence the SEC finally resolved their 40-year debate over 8 vs. 9 just a day after the CFP announced tweaks to the schedule strength metrics used by the selection committee in response to criticism last season. Not only are they going to nine, they’re requiring a 10th P4 game in non-conference play.

“The current schedule strength metric has been adjusted to apply greater weight to games against strong opponents,” the CFP said. “An additional metric, record strength, has been added to the selection committee’s analysis to go beyond a team’s schedule strength to assess how a team performed against that schedule.”

Sankey called it, “an element that weighed in favor of the nine-game schedule being implemented.”

So now the ball is back in the Big Ten’s court, with a Dec. 1 deadline approaching to make CFP changes for 2026. Petitti and the coaches got the exact concession they so desperately wanted from the SEC. If 4-4-2-2-1 or 28 teams still lives past next week, we’ll know this was never about schedule strength and entirely about creating television inventory.

Finally, speaking of schedule strength, some of the Big Ten’s schools may need to go back to the drawing board themselves.

In defending his school’s decision to drop P4 non-conference opponents going forward, Indiana coach Curt Cignetti said mockingly, “We figured we would just adopt an SEC scheduling philosophy.” That did not age well. Next season, when every SEC team will be playing at least 10 P4 games, the Hoosiers will be playing Colorado State, Howard and Western Kentucky.

Also at Big Ten Media Days, Penn State coach James Franklin called his conference’s move to nine games, “maybe the worst decision the Big Ten has ever made.” In 2026, his team is playing those nine games, plus Marshall, Temple and Buffalo. Alabama will be facing nine SEC foes plus West Virginia and Florida State.

For all the complaints about one less conference game or playing FCS teams in November, every computer metric has long said the SEC’s schedules are the toughest in the country. With an extra P4 foe, it will be no contest.

Whether the committee rewards them accordingly remains to be seen. But if SEC schools are willing to take that risk less than a year after only earning three berths, AND they support a system with even more committee influence, the Big Ten and Petitti truly have no excuse.

(Photo: Tim Warner / Getty Images)