Athletic directors from the Big Ten and SEC are set to meet in Nashville, Tennessee, next week to discuss a potential scheduling alliance and their preference for automatic bids in future College Football Playoff formats, CBS Sports’ Brandon Marcello confirms. This is a continuation of a partnership between the two conference giants that stretches back to February, when the Big Ten and SEC started pushing for a 14-team playoff model when the next contract begins in 2026.
The two initially pushed for four automatic bids apiece, and will likely still fight for that, but the SEC and Big Ten also countered with a “3-3-2-2-1” model that would guarantee three spots for each conference, including a first-round bye for each league’s respective champion. The Big 12 and ACC would each get two automatic bids, with one guaranteed spot held for the top-ranked Group of Five champion. That would leave three at-large bids for the next highest-ranked teams that didn’t qualify for an auto-bid.
Talks cooled in June when the 10 FBS commissioners and Notre Dame agreed to let the 12-team model play out this season before having further discussions surrounding the future of the CFP, according to CBS Sports’ Dennis Dodd.
As for a scheduling agreement, any moves towards an alliance depend on whether or not the SEC adopts a nine-game conference schedule, per ESPN. Since Big Ten schools already play nine conference opponents each year, some athletic directors could push back on a scheduling agreement if the SEC does not follow suit.
