The world of college football feels like a blank canvas being filled more and more each year. Whether it be Name, Image and Likeness, conference realignment or College Football Playoffs, something fresh and new seems to be coming to the sport every season.
Next season, the Oklahoma Sooners and Texas Longhorns are headed to the SEC from the Big 12 — moving to a tougher conference and adding some depth into the most talented conference in college football. This is one of the many conference realignment moves that shakes up the Power Four.
The College Football Playoffs will have its first season with the new 12-team playoff format, though a 14-team model is already being brought up and talked about. A two-minute warning is being added, as well as tablets on the sideline and helmet coach-to-player communication.
Needless to say, the sport is rapidly evolving and the offseason feels plenty more like the NFL free agency, except it lacks any order and restrictions with NIL.
College Football Super League?
What could be next for the sport? On3 proposed a potential “Super League,” stating that is could come sooner than we think.
The new proposed 14-team playoff model would guarantee the SEC and Big Ten a first-round playoff bye, as well as three teams per conference getting automatic bids into the postseason. While it sounds unfair to other conferences, those two run college football, and that’s no secret.
With the current state of college football, this wouldn’t even be all that shocking. Merging the Big 12 into the SEC and having the ACC join the Big Ten, and then having an AFC/NFC setup similar to the NFL wouldn’t even come out of left field. The money would be spread out, there’s plenty of parity in the sport and all-out chaos would continue to take over the sport.
One of the most intriguing wrinkles in college football is the way the parity works. Having multiple power conferences creates for diverse strategies and play styles, making an expanded playoff even more fun. The Sooners, being in the SEC and most powerful college football conference, will be fine with whatever happens. An expanded playing field would arguably lighten up the program’s schedule.
Again, college football is a blank canvas that keeps getting painted on, then expanded, as the sport continues to grow. It’ll be fun to watch where the sport goes next and what it looks like moving forward, though none if it will come as a major shock anymore.
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