Paul Finebaum proclaims SEC, Big Ten 'completely wrong' for wanting automatic bids in College Football Playoff

Paul Finebaum is pushing back on the notion that the Big Ten and the SEC deserve as many as four automatic qualifiers for the College Football Playoff moving forward.

The idea has been a point of contention over the past few days, as the Big Ten and SEC held their second joint summit Wednesday in New Orleans to discuss the power conferences’ collective stance on the pending future of the CFP beginning in 2026.

There were no definitive decisions made, at least not publicly. A recent Yahoo! Sports report revealed there is momentum building within both leagues to not only expand the Playoff to 14 or 16 teams but also designate as many as four automatic qualifiers for the Big Ten and SEC.

That proposal would also reportedly give the ACC and Big 12 two AQs each and the highest-ranked Group of Five championship would receive another with one or three at-large bids, according to Yahoo!’s Ross Dellenger.

While Finebaum understands the two major conferences having a problem with the seeding of teams under the current CFP format, he believes it would be “completely wrong” to guarantee that many bids to the Big Ten and the SEC.

“I understand the seeding issue, but I believe they are completely wrong about guaranteeing bids,” Finebaum proclaimed, via GetUp. “Doing our show yesterday, even SEC fans are calling in saying they don’t like it. There’s something inherently wrong about stacking the deck before the season.

“Yeah, the SEC and the Big Ten are by far the best leagues, and last year, the SEC only got three, and there were three schools hanging on the ledge. But ultimately, you could have a year in, probably more in the Big Ten or the SEC, where you have two or three elite teams, and then your automatic third or fourth, or maybe your fourth, is an 8-4 team that probably doesn’t belong in there. So, I think it’s a bad move right now.”

It’s easy to see why the idea of four guaranteed bids would rub people the wrong way, even fans of Big Ten and SEC programs. It runs the risk of cheapening the CFP, especially if either conference has a down season and a lesser team is let in the field over a more deserving one from outside the two major conferences.

Perhaps the SEC and the Big Ten will take Paul Finebaum’s advice, as he’s far from alone in his sentiment. At the end of the day, it’s up to the conference’s decision-makers, but this might end up getting more pushback than embrace.

— On3’s Chandler Vessels contributed to this article.