LAS VEGAS — Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti on Tuesday defended his proposed 16-team College Football Playoff format that would allocate twice as many automatic berths to the Big Ten and SEC.
Speaking on the first day of his conference’s media days, Petitti said a field primarily determined by conference standings, rather than the CFP rankings, would make the selection process more objective and allow leagues to create their own CFP play-in games the first weekend in December.
“The Big Ten has been consistent in its strong preference for a Playoff system that allocates spots based on conference standings and the results of playing games,” Petitti said. “We want to better connect the regular season and the postseason.”
The FBS commissioners have been stuck at an impasse for more than a year in determining the size and format of the Playoff when its new contract with ESPN begins ahead of the 2026 season. That contract specifies that any changes to the current 12-team format must be determined by Dec. 1.
The Big Ten first introduced the “4-4-2-2-1” concept — four automatic qualifiers for the Big Ten and SEC, two each for the ACC and Big 12, one for the top-ranked Group of 5 champion — during spring 2024 meetings of CFP leaders. But outside of one interview with Fox Sports analyst Joel Klatt, his media days address was the first time Petitti made his pitch publicly.
Initially it appeared the Big Ten and SEC were aligned on the proposed format, but that’s no longer the case. SEC commissioner Greg Sankey, speaking at his league’s media days last week, said, “We had a different view coming out of (May’s SEC meetings) around the notion of allocations, if you will. … The Big Ten has a different view, that’s fine.”
The ACC and Big 12 have made clear they support a “5+11” model: the top five conference champs, as is the case currently, plus 11 at-large bids.
“Why would I as a commissioner cap (the Big 12’s) participation?” commissioner Brett Yormark said at his league’s media days. “It makes no sense.”
Petitti reiterated that the Big Ten and SEC “control changes to the CFP format and the selection committee process” going forward “after considering feedback from the membership.”
“We are open to considering any format ideas that come from our (conference) colleagues or the CFP staff,” he said, “but to be clear, formats that increase the discretion and role of the CFP selection committee will have a difficult time getting support from the Big Ten.”
A big part of Petitti’s pitch is the concept of conference play-in games. In the Big Ten’s vision, conference championship weekend would no longer consist solely of No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchups, but also 3 vs. 6 and 4 vs. 5, the winners of which would receive automatic CFP berths. Petitti predicted “fans will gravitate to it.” Had that been in place last year, the No. 6 seed would have been Iowa, which finished 6-3 in the conference and 8-4 overall.
Petitti pushed back when a reporter said, “I don’t sense a clamor for a four-loss team in the Playoff.”
“If you’re 6-3 in the Big Ten, I would argue that’s a great record, and if you stumbled in a nonconference game, I don’t know why that disqualifies you,” Petitti said. “8-4 as a winning percentage, if you project that winning percentage in every other sport, I’m pretty sure you make the postseason. … There are plenty of teams in professional sports who qualify for the playoffs who can’t get past the first-round game. That’s OK, they still get to play. We’ll figure it out on the field, rather than sitting in a room.”
The six Big Ten coaches who spoke Tuesday all supported Petitti’s plan. Ohio State coach Ryan Day said Big Ten schools will be less likely to play tough out-of-conference games without the assurance of automatic berths, given they play nine league games as compared with the SEC’s eight.
“If we’re going to be in a situation where we get four automatic qualifiers, then I think it’d be great to have a 10th game against a Power 4 team,” Day said. “If we’re not going to do that, then I don’t think it makes sense.”
(Photo: Kirby Lee / Imagn Images)
Stewart Mandel is editor-in-chief of The Athletic’s college football coverage. He has been a national college football writer for two decades with Sports Illustrated and Fox Sports. He co-hosts “The Audible” podcast with Bruce Feldman. Follow Stewart on Twitter @slmandel
