A second CFP for Group of Five schools pitched because of 'inevitable' SEC and Big Ten split from NCAA

The SEC and Big Ten splitting from the NCAA has Group of Five schools aiming to form a second College Football Playoff for the NCAA Division I FBS' lower tier; with one G5 school administrator calling it "inevitable."

"You've got presidents and chancellors [from the Group of Five] now saying, 'Why would [we sit] around waiting for the inevitable, which is a total break [by the SEC and Big Ten]?'" one Group of Five administrator familiar with former Tennessee football coach Derek Dooley's proposal told CBS Sports. "We better start doing some things."

As CBS Sports' Dennis Dodd reports, Group of Five conferences are feeling robbed from the revenue split from the latest 14-team CFP proposal that heavily favors the SEC and Big Ten.

"The concept would address -- if not be motivated by -- disappointment felt by the Group of Five conferences (MAC, Mountain West, Sun Belt, American and Conference USA) over revenue distribution shares under the new College Football Playoff media rights agreement," Dodd prefaced before saying, "The average program in those conferences will receive $1.8 million per year in CFP revenue beginning in 2026 under the new deal, up from the current $1.5 million payout. 

"The Group of Five splits 9% of the annual $1.3 billion deal with ESPN. While the payout marks an increase in raw numbers, it is a percentage decrease considering the Group of Five received 22% of the pot in the prior deal (2014-23)."

SEC and Big Ten becoming too big for the NCAA

If the SEC and Big Ten continue to expand -- something that's widely expected once the ACC crumbles following FSU's lawsuit, which will be followed by, at minimum, Clemson and UNC"s own legal battles with the conference -- both will become too big for the NCAA.

Given how the NCAA has not been able to rein in NIL in any meaningful way and both conferences have gotten all the power from their respective TV deals, not to mention the horrible reputation the non-profit monolith has, the SEC and Big Ten going their own way feels inevitable, as the unnamed G5 administrator said.