Kevin Sherrington: As ‘Super 2’ of SEC, Big Ten take over CFP, where does rest of college football sit?
DALLAS If youre sick of college football players getting rich only to watch them get up and leave at the first slight, and you wish everything would just stay the same, take heart.
The Big Ten and SEC are right there with you.
Officials of the Super 2 met in New Orleans this week in a continuing effort to make sure no matter how this all shakes out, theyll get theirs, as usual.
Theyd like to guarantee it, in fact.
This is what happens when SMU beats out Alabama.
First, the news out of the meetings Wednesday in the precursor to next weeks confab in Dallas: Pending a unanimous vote of the 10 FBS commissioners and Notre Dames athletic director, the Super 2 would like to get rid of a seeding process that might have been the only blight on this years 12-team playoffs.
If approved, the four highest-ranked conference champs would no longer earn the top seeds.
Theyd simply slot where the committee ranked them.
No arguments here.
Winning your league doesnt necessarily justify top billing.
Not all conferences are created equal.
What the SECs Greg Sankey and the Big Tens Tony Petitti didnt comment on Wednesday was a discussion thats apparently been bubbling for some time.
Basically, after only two years of a 12-team playoff, the Super 2 will push for 14 teams and maybe 16.
Seems a little excessive, frankly, but if they can do it by getting rid of conference title games and first-round byes, I suppose its fine.
Theyre reportedly justifying further expansion based on the $20 million schools will be allowed to pay their athletes annually.
That comes to more than half of the Big 12s media, bowl and NCAA Tournament dispersal.
As noted, not all leagues are the same.
The SEC paid each of its members $52.5 million, the result of bigger cuts demanded from ESPNs $1.3 billion annual check.
The Super 2 get 29% each, followed by the ACCs 17% and the Big 12 at 15%.
Creates an obvious advantage, but thats Hollywood, right? Stars get paid.
This is how negotiations work.
Either the Big Ten or SEC has won nine of the 11 College Football Playoff titles.
Clemson took the others.
Of the 11 semifinals played, the super conferences, as presently constituted, have accounted for 72.7% of the inventory.
Hard to argue with those results, but that didnt stop some of you who think the committee has been biased.
Or, at best, murky.
Sankey alluded to the latter Wednesday when he told reporters he wanted a better understanding of the decision-making process.
Once again, no argument there.
We could all use a little clarity.
Except multiple reports indicate what the Super 2 really wants is to take matters out of the committees hands altogether.
Word is, in a 14-team playoff, the Super 2 will push for four automatic qualifiers for each, with the Big 12 and ACC getting two apiece.
One Group of Five team, presumably a conference champ, would make it, leaving one at-large bid, most likely Notre Dame.
If the Super 2 has accounted for nearly three-quarters of the playoff inventory so far, guaranteeing 57% seems fair, right? Not so fast.
Maybe you remember that in the last playoff field, the Big Ten led with four reps while the SEC sent three.
Once the committee confirmed it came down to Alabama and SMU for the final spot, the howling from Tuscaloosa could have deafened Louisiana.
Never mind that the Crimson Tide subsequently lost to Michigan, which was worse than the Mustangs getting blown out by Penn State.
The thinking seemed to be that SEC royalty shouldnt lose out to the likes of SMU.
Not if the Super 2 can help it, it wont.
Look, if the committee picks four SEC and Big Ten teams, thats one thing.
Give em their due.
But four each as a prerequisite? What if it turns out they dont deserve it? Dont dismiss the possibility out of hand.
History isnt always a guarantee of the future.
Name, image and likeness and the transfer portal have already changed college sports dramatically.
We saw it last season in the SEC.
Nick Saban saw it before that.
This is what he predicted a few years ago when he accused Texas A&M of buying recruits.
Saban feared Alabama couldnt go wallet-for-wallet with A&M, Texas, Ohio State and Michigan.
He was right.
But its not just bluebloods money-whipping recruits and transfers.
The story of the last portal was Texas Tech.
SMUs bankroll of billionaires was fodder for an ESPN story last year.
Carson Beck, once Georgias quarterback, will suit up for Miami this fall.
For now and the foreseeable future, the Big Ten and SEC run college football, but its a loose reign, at best.
Each year brings new possibilities.
Whether its a 12- or 14- or 16-team field, an accommodation should always be made for a deserving underdog or two.
If David has to earn it, Goliath should, too.
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