Urban Meyer ponders SEC, Big Ten splitting away from College Football Playoff

Former coach Urban Meyer pondered the idea of the SEC and Big Ten splitting away from the College Football Playoff.

Now in that case, you’d had 34 schools vying for a national championship, or some kind of championship, while the ACC, Big 12, eventually a rebuilt Pac-12 and the Group of Five schools play for something else.

It’s just an idea or something to ponder, but Meyer wondered if that’s what the commissioners are thinking with all of this talk about strength of schedule in the College Football Playoff rankings.

“I’m gonna throw some out at you,” Meyer said on The Triple Option. “This might stir a little internet conversation. Does Greg Sankey and (Tony) Petitti from the Big Ten get together and say, ‘this ain’t right?’ I’m asking. Okay, we’re playing in a conference, there’s teams on this that have not played a ranked team. Every SEC team, I’ve imagined has played at least three. I’m looking at South Carolina, some of their wins and then I’m seeing some teams in front of them … 

“I get it, and I was Utah, and, well, they don’t (play the same schedule). So don’t give me these what ifs, but they don’t. But I can tell you about the SEC. After living there for six years, the SEC cares about the SEC, and the Big Ten has grown that as well. They care about the Big Ten. Do they get together and say, ‘Wait a minute? Do we go do our own thing?’”

Super leagues have been rumored or talked about. Whether that’s the abolishment of conferences entirely to create new leagues and divisions to evenly split up and qualify for a College Football Playoff is anyone’s guess.

Heck, there’s been rumors of the Big Ten and SEC further expanding to get a stranglehold on major college football and make the College Football Playoff run through those schools.

The rest? Play for the next best thing. A lower tiered championship, just like what the FCS schools do compared to the current FBS structure.

The closer the sport and playoff get to an NFL model, the better, or worse depending upon who you ask, it is for the game.

But an SEC and Big Ten split from the College Football Playoff would certainly cause chaos and perhaps undo ripple effects across the country.