Following the news of the SEC and Big Ten’s view of the future College Football Playoff model, many in the world of athletics have come forward to call out the two leagues’ behavior.
One such individual is former Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin III, who made some powerful statements regarding the SEC, Big Ten, and the current landscape of college athletics.
“The soul of College Football is dying because of money,” Griffin said. “Allowing the Big 10 and SEC to get four automatic bids into another expanded College Football Playoff dilutes the importance of winning. Four-loss non-conference champions don’t belong in the CFP. The proposed changes open the door for a monopoly of the sport. The business of College Football is trying to destroy it.”
Griffin’s tweet stems from a recent story from Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger, who dropped a bombshell report on the future of the College Football Playoff and what it might mean for the future of the sport.
Among the bevy of proposed changes that are likely to come to pass—such as further CFP expansion and an overhaul to Conference Championship Weekend—is the introduction of multiple automatic bids for each Power Four Conference.
However, the new model would give both the Big Ten and SEC double the auto-bids of the Big 12 and ACC in a proposed 14-team field.
Though many figureheads associated with the SEC have been campaigning to expand the playoff and allow auto-bids for multiple teams in the league, strangely enough, even ESPN’s Paul Finebaum disagrees with the notion.
“I feel like 12 teams are enough, probably too many, but it’s what we have, so we’re not going backward,” Finebaum said. “I don’t see any compelling reasons to add more. I don’t care how good you are. I think you ought to prove it. It just smells of a level of elitism that I’m not a big fan of.”
While the SEC and Big Ten may feel a certain way about the future of college athletics, it’s clear that just about everyone else is fighting for the long-term betterment of the sport, with or without the help of the two leagues.
