The College Football Playoff Isn’t Broken - The Sport Is
If you tuned into Saturday’s College Football Playoff games hoping for drama, you didn’t get much. Ole Miss rolled over Tulane, and Oregon pulled away from James Madison with relative ease. And while the final scores-41-10 and 51-34-might suggest some level of competitiveness, anyone watching knew how these games were going to unfold from the opening snap.
But here’s the thing: the problem isn’t with the playoff format. It’s with college football itself.
A Sport That’s Always Been Top-Heavy - Now More Than Ever
College football has never been a model of parity. But what we’re seeing now is a level of imbalance that even the most loyal fans are finding hard to ignore.
Thanks to the influx of NIL money and the freedom of the transfer portal, the rich are getting richer at warp speed. And while those mechanisms were supposed to help level the playing field, they’ve mostly just accelerated the consolidation of power.
Take a look at the 2026 recruiting cycle. For the first time since 2008, the No. 1 class didn’t come from the SEC-USC took the top spot, ending a nearly two-decade SEC stranglehold.
That’s notable. But zoom out, and the bigger picture tells a different story: 23 of the top 35 recruiting classes belong to teams in either the Big Ten or SEC.
Only six programs from outside those two conferences cracked the top 20, and just two-Notre Dame and Miami-broke into the top 10.
So yes, the SEC didn’t dominate the top four this year. But the gravitational pull of the Big Ten and SEC is stronger than ever. Talent, money, and resources are flowing in one direction-and they’re not slowing down.
Realignment’s Ripple Effect
This didn’t happen overnight. Over the past 15 years, conference realignment has gutted the traditional structure of college football.
The Big Ten added Nebraska, Maryland, Rutgers, UCLA, USC, Oregon, and Washington. That last group essentially ended the Pac-12 as we knew it.
The SEC, not to be outdone, snatched up Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, and Texas A&M.
The Big 12, to its credit, has managed to survive the hits better than the Pac-12. But it’s been stripped of its most marketable brands. That’s made it harder to secure lucrative TV deals, and the financial gap between the haves and have-nots keeps growing.
Meanwhile, the ACC is hanging on, but it’s increasingly clear that its long-term viability is in question. The Big Ten and SEC have already been handed the keys to the future of the playoff format. The other leagues are just trying to stay in the room.
NIL Era: A Wild West With No Sheriff
Then there’s NIL. After years of resistance, college football finally opened the door to players getting paid.
But instead of creating a structured, transparent system, the sport dove headfirst into chaos. No universal guidelines, no enforcement, no accountability-just open bidding wars for top talent.
And that’s how you get a situation like Arizona State head coach Kenny Dillingham openly calling on billionaires to help him build a competitive roster. That’s not hyperbole-that’s where we are now. If you’re not backed by deep pockets, you’re already playing from behind.
The frustration fans are feeling toward Group of Five teams in the playoff is misplaced. The real story is that if the current financial trajectory continues, it won’t be long before the ACC and Big 12 are viewed the same way Tulane and James Madison are now-outmatched, underfunded, and out of the national title conversation before the season even begins.
The Numbers Don’t Lie: Big Ten and SEC Dominate the CFP
Let’s talk results. Since the College Football Playoff began, the Big Ten and SEC have won nine of the eleven titles.
Clemson is the only outsider to break through-and that was before the NCAA lifted the rule requiring transfers to sit out a year. Since then?
Clemson hasn’t won a single playoff game and has only made the field once.
Of the 22 teams that have played in the National Championship Game, 16 are current members of the Big Ten or SEC. The only outsiders to reach that stage are Clemson (four times), TCU, and Notre Dame.
Oregon and Washington made it while they were still in the Pac-12, but they’ve since joined the Big Ten. The message is clear: if you want to win big, you better be in one of the two super leagues.
What Comes Next? The Super League Is Inevitable
So where does this all lead? Probably to the same place everyone’s been whispering about for years: a Super League.
Whether it’s a hostile takeover by the Big Ten and SEC, or a negotiated split from the NCAA, the writing’s on the wall. A new era is coming-one where the top programs break off and form their own fully professionalized league.
You can call it the Super League, the Power Alliance, or whatever catchy name they dream up in a boardroom. But the idea is the same: consolidation of power, money, and control into the hands of a select few.
And the rest? They’ll be left to figure out where they fit in a sport that increasingly doesn’t have room for them at the top.
Final Thought
So no, the College Football Playoff isn’t broken. It’s working exactly as designed-for the programs that were always meant to benefit from it. The real issue is the sport itself: a system that’s long rewarded the biggest brands and now, more than ever, is making sure they stay on top.
The blowouts we saw on Saturday weren’t a fluke. They’re the future-unless something dramatic changes. But if history is any indication, the only thing that’s changing is how much more control the Big Ten and SEC are about to have.