Shatel: The Big Ten and SEC have all the college football power, but is it good for the game?

The banter and jabs coming out of the four major conferences this week was pure entertainment.

And they show that, more than ever, college football needs a commissioner.

Fat chance.

Southeastern Conference Commissioner Greg Sankey is not taking suggestions from the Big 12 or the ACC.

What makes anyone think he would obey the orders of a College Football Czar? Same for Big Ten boss Tony Pettiti.

Sankey and Petitti run the two most powerful leagues in the nation.

Now they want to run college football.

The Big 12 and ACC want to reign them in.

Good luck to everyone on that.

Especially to us, the college football fans on the sidelines.

The Big Ten and SEC are said to want a 16-team playoff that would guarantee each league four automatic bids.

Its a terrible idea.

The Big 12/ACC favor a 5+11 format, which would give one automatic bid to five conferences and 11 wild cards to be earned on the field.

On Friday, Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark said the Big Ten and SEC have a responsibility to do whats right for college football and not to do anything that just benefits the two conferences.

Yormark must be new around here.

Self-interest is one of the great traditions in college football.

Along with power and money.

Alabama legendary coach Bear Bryant used to control which teams were invited to bowl games.

In the old Big Eight, Nebraska and Oklahoma ran the league meetings and many of the rules the others lived with.

Yormark should know that when his own league was formed in 1995, Texas led the charge for important rules changes and had the cooperation of seven Big Eight schools looking to knock down NU.

All the machinations and saber-rattling by the SEC and Big Ten is nothing new.

But is it really necessary? No, not when it comes to the playoff.

The idea of four guaranteed spots for the SEC and Big Ten is over-the-top ridiculous.

It makes a mockery of the regular season.

The credibility of the sport would take a huge hit.

Besides that, it puts a ceiling on the Power Two.

The Big Ten had four teams in last years 12-team playoff.

And if Nebraska, USC, UCLA, Washington, Illinois, Iowa and others get going, it would not take much to get to five.

The SEC had three in the playoff, but would have also had Alabama in if the Tide hadnt lost to Oklahoma (6-7) or Vanderbilt (7-6).

Had the four guaranteed spots been in place, Alabamas blowout loss at OU wouldnt have mattered.

Thats not what college football should be about.

Every game should matter.

Yormark pushed the 5-11 plan this week by saying playoff teams should earn it on the field.

Heck, yeah.

If the SEC and Big Ten are so good, why wouldnt they want to prove that? Why wouldnt they be okay with that? Because, as was pointed out to me by a few Division I administrators, the SEC and Big Ten the Power Two are trying to flex their muscles.

Theyre showing whos in charge.

Does anyone care? No.

Here in Nebraska, Husker football fans want their conference to provide maximum TV revenue and maximum access to the playoff.

The 5+11 plan does that.

In fact, the SEC coaches last week at their spring meetings backed the 5+11 plan.

If the SEC chose to go that way, its believed it would be in conflict with the Big Ten, which reportedly supports the four-automatic plan.

Its hard to know.

Pettiti has been largely silent while Sankey talks at length to the media and comes off as Darth Vader.

Maybe well hear from Pettiti at Big Ten Media days in July.

Heres what Id like to see: the 5+11 plan for a 16-team playoff.

And an accompanying SEC vs.

Big Ten scheduling series.

My, that would be delicious.

You dont see many new rivalries pop up in college football anymore.

But the Big Ten vs.

SEC would be an incredible rivalry.

It would be must-see TV.

It would be good for the game.

On Thursday, Sankey concluded the SEC meetings by handing out a seven-page document to media members with data points that showed no other conference has a regular season as grueling as the SECs.

More SEC propaganda.

On Friday, Illinois coach Bret Bielema, who used to coach at Arkansas, sent out a post on X that pointed out that NIL and the transfer portal have balanced rosters across college football and added that the SEC should look at recent head-to-head results in power four conferences.

A direct shot at the SEC.

The SEC and Big Ten are both rich and powerful and both full of themselves.

Its a perfect rivalry.

And it would come with a bonus for the SEC/Big Ten.

By playing a nonconference series against each other, the Power Two would not have room for games against the Big 12 and ACC.

That would serve to boost the strength of schedule for the Big Ten/SEC and lessen the SOS for the Big 12 and ACC.

Guess who would benefit the most come playoff selection time? This is why the SEC/Big Ten dont need four automatic spots.

They need to play each other and watch the playoff resumes and data points pile up.

Good news: Sankey this week moved from talking about a Power Two super conference with their own football championship to a Power Four division where the four conferences would operate by their own rules and championships.

I dont know what that would mean for NCAA basketball and, for Omahas purposes, NCAA baseball and the College World Series.

Right now, its just an idea.

But its gaining traction.

What does the Big Ten think about this? Good question.

An autonomy division would allow the big boys to live by their own rules, including NIL and revenue sharing.

But if the Big 12 and ACC think that the SEC and Big Ten will agree to share all TV revenue with them, think again.

The Big Two will never give up their leverage or their power.

But right now a little less ego would be good for the game and those of us who love it..

This article has been shared from the original article on kearneyhub, here is the link to the original article.