Big 12 AD rips 3-3-2-2-1 14-team College Football Playoff model for SEC/Big Ten bias
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TCU AD Jeremiah Donati believes the proposed 3-3-2-2-1 14-team College Football Playoff model -- one that'd grant the SEC and Big Ten three automatic qualifying bids to the CFP, while the Big 12 and ACC got two each and the top Group of Five champion would get one -- is a clear case of the SEC and Big Ten stacking the deck against everyone else.
"I'm not involved in the negotiations of the CFP extension, but it feels as though there's two conferences trying to stack the deck versus everyone else," Donati said (h/t The Athletic's Chris Vannini). "That's potentially going to create competitive inequity that I don't think is good for college football. I don't think fans want that. That's really disheartening. Hopefully it doesn't work out that way, but it seems like that's the direction we're going in."
Interestingly enough, though, Donati believes that expansion for March Madness, which could expand the tournament to include 96 teams, would be good. Perhaps in a related note, such expansion would benefit the Big 12.
"We've got the best basketball league in the country," Donati prefaced before saying, "There will be teams that are NCAA-caliber teams that won't be playing in that. I understand the automatic qualifiers in the smaller conferences, that's a great part of the fabric of the tournament, the tradition, we all love the Cinderella stories. But I also think having more access from our league, whether it's two, three more would be important, especially when we go to 16 teams. … We're going to need more spots in there. I would be very much in favor of expanding the tournament."
3-3-2-2-1 14-team College Football Playoff model shouldn't be approved
Donati's self-serving interests aside, the 3-3-2-2-1 14-team College Football Playoff model shouldn't be approved. Remember, the College Football Playoff Selection Committee just approved a 12-team playoff model.
All of this change happening so quickly isn't a good thing. While the CFP was a success (FSU's 2023 snub notwithstanding), it had holes that the 12-team playoff is meant to fill. We don't even know what holes the 12-team playoff has and there's already a call to change it after just two seasons starting in 2026.
Maybe sometime in the future this could work. But right now? It's (way) too much (way) too soon.