Josh Pate's proposed conference realignment plan -- one that'd take Texas A&M, Mizzou, Arkansas, Vanderbilt, Texas, and Oklahoma out of the SEC and would shrink the conference to10 programs, those being Auburn, Alabama, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, LSU, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, and Kentucky -- will probably not ever happen according to All Cardinal's Kevin Borba.
"The 'Power 2' (SEC and Big Ten) are essentially looking to dictate the direction of the College Football Playoff, while also working their way to ensuring there are no other power conferences aside from them," Borba prefaced before saying, "While money drives everything in college football and always will, 247Sports' Josh Pate recently took a crack at fixing college football in a way that values regionalism in what he called the 'perfect college football conferences'.
Is it likely to happen this way? No, probably not ever. But, there will eventually come a point in time where fans begin to clamor for the sport they once loved to return to its traditions.
When I am CFB Commissioner these are your new conferences. Do whatever you want with the Playoff. pic.twitter.com/Bz7GN4rA5N
— Josh Pate (@LateKickJosh) March 8, 2024
College football Playoff shifting towards Power 2 of SEC and Big Ten and other two, ACC and Big 12
Yahoo Sports' Ross Dellenger reports that the College Football Playoff is moving towards a Power Two + other two model, with the SEC and Big Ten set to hold most of the cards and the ACC and Big 12 clearly beneath them.
"The CFP is barreling toward a new format and revenue model that skews toward the new Power Two of college athletics, creating a more formal delineation between two groups: the SEC and Big Ten; the ACC and Big 12," Dellenger wrote.
"While the Power Two separated themselves long ago through increased revenue streams and recent expansion, a new playoff model is expected to draw a more permanent line. Using an uneven revenue distribution, a tangible separation is forming between college football’s haves and those that were once veritable equals in the space."
Schools like FSU, Clemson, Louisville, and UNC are making contingency plans to leave the ACC and become Power Two programs. Meanwhile, the ACC has its own contingency plans if that were to happen.
If/when this new College Football Playoff configuration is passed, expect more major movements across the country for schools looking to have more equity in the sport.