In this episode, the guys discuss the rumors coming out of the Big Ten-SEC meetings, including a potential play-in tournament to get into the College Football Playoff.
Welcome to a new episode of Land-Grant Podcast Network’s I-80 Football Show. On this show, we travel down I-80 to talk all things Big Ten Football. After every week of action, we will catch you up on all the conference’s games and look ahead at the matchups, storylines, and players you should be paying attention to for the next week. My name is Jordan Williams, and I am joined by my co-host Dante Morgan.
The guys are back, and it’s perfect timing as the Big Ten and SEC completed their joint meetings this week. With college football suffering from a lack of leadership, the two conferences felt it would be good if they were aligned on important issues that affect the sport.
The quiet part is they’re also aligning to make sure they can line their pockets. They’re not looking to spread the wealth. No matter the real reason for the meetings, we may be getting some great new ideas from them… as long as the sport acquiescences to their demand for four automatic qualifiers in the new 14 or 16-team playoff that will start in 2026.
As a part of the news breaking from the joint meetings — and all of this hinges on the conferences getting the automatic qualifiers — the SEC may join the Big Ten by finally moving from an eight-game conference schedule to a nine-game schedule, which will help lead to more uniformity in scheduling. There may also be a Big Ten-SEC scheduling agreement guaranteeing the two conferences play non-conference games against each other each year.
While we are already seeing a handful of Big Ten-SEC non-conference games, if you remove the risk of teams not making the playoffs there is more incentive for a scheduling agreement, which ultimately means better games for the fans.
The last piece, and most surprising bit of news, is that the Big Ten and SEC may create a play-in tournament for the last two spots in the College Football Playoff. In this world where they receive four guaranteed bids, the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the conference will continue to play in the conference championship game, and both teams will get into the college football playoffs. With two spots up for grabs, the conference would stage a mini tournament between teams ranked three through six, leading to four teams playing for a spot in the playoff.
This is a huge change, but would lead to awesome matchups with high stakes at the end of the season. Plus, it could lead to other conferences doing something similar for their spots in the CFP.
In their weekly pitstop, Jordan talks about the new women’s soccer team in Brooklyn. Since there is no women’s soccer team in Ohio to root for, having a soccer team in Brooklyn is the next best option. Dante celebrates the rumor that there is an above 90% chance that the next WNBA franchise is the revival of the Cleveland Rockers.
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