National college football writer calls Big Ten playoff plan 'absurd'
Tony Petitti, the commissioner of the Big Ten, has proposed an alteration to the College Football Playoff. Under his plan, the playoff would expand to 16 teams with four guaranteed bids for the Big Ten, four for the Southeastern Conference, two each for the Big 12 and the Atlantic Coast Conference, and a final spot reserved for the highest-ranked non-power conference champion. The three remaining bids would be at-large.
"I think everybody outside of Big Ten land has realized that this Tony Petitti plan is patently absurd," Toppmeyer said on The Paul Finebaum Show.
Big Ten coaches are behind the plan because they helped Petitti formulate it. And because it helps their conference, in turn, it helps their team. The Big Ten would have held 54 spots in the College Football Playoff over the last 11 years, the history of the playoff, if Petitti's plan were in place.
"It would make the regular season worse when you consider 13 of the 16 bids would be rewarded purely off of conference standings and play-in games," Toppmeyer said. "Games like Texas-Ohio State, LSU-Clemson, Michigan-Oklahoma, that we're looking forward to this season, if we were in a world of Petitti playoff plan, those nonconference games would become glorified exhibitions. That's not how you make the season better."
As much as the plan has support in the Big Ten, most of the rest of the college football world agrees with Toppmeyer. ACC and Big 12 commissioners have recommended the 5 + 11 plan, for example.
But whatever changes come to the playoff will ultimately be decided by the Big Ten and SEC. SEC commissioner Greg Sankey has largely hemmed and hawed on Petitti's plan so far.
Any changes to the playoff format would have to be agreed on by December 1 to take effect for the 2026 season, and it's looking more like the playoff may not expand at all.
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