Michael Cohen
College Football and College Basketball Writer
LAS VEGAS — On this same stage at this same event last summer, only a few months into his tenure as Indiana’s new head coach, Curt Cignetti announced himself to the college football world with an impassioned opening statement that dripped with jaw-dropping confidence for someone leading a power-conference program for the first time.
Cignetti admonished the media members in attendance for picking the Hoosiers to finish 17th in the newly expanded Big Ten. And five months later, after rolling through the greatest regular season in program history, Cignetti proved he could walk the walk by leading Indiana to the College Football Playoff.
One year and one hefty contract extension later, Cignetti opened Big Ten Media Days with another headline-making display, firing a shot across the SEC’s bow when asked why the Hoosiers recently agreed to pay $500,000 to extricate themselves from a home-and-home scheduling agreement with Virginia and replace those games with likely blowouts against Kennesaw State in 2027 and Austin Peay in 2028. More than five years will pass between now and the next time Indiana kicks off against a high-level, non-conference opponent.
“We figured we would just adopt SEC scheduling philosophy, you know?” Cignetti said on Tuesday afternoon. “Some people don’t like it. I’m more focused on those nine conference games. Not only do we want to play nine conference games, OK, and have the [revised] playoff format [with automatic qualifiers], we need to have play-in video games to determine who performs in these playoffs.”
Although wrapped round an apparent barb within the ongoing energy battle between the Huge Ten and the SEC, school soccer’s preeminent conferences, Cignetti’s whip-like rebuttal precisely captured the overarching message from commissioner Tony Petitti and the primary wave of head coaches to deal with the media at this 12 months’s preseason gathering, the place potential adjustments to the CFP format — adjustments that might kick in subsequent 12 months — and the accompanying considerations about scheduling have been among the many main subjects of dialog.
The league rallied round Petitti’s desire for a 4-4-2-2-1 mannequin that depends way more closely on computerized qualifiers than at-large berths, and in doing so, it challenged the SEC to undertake a regular-season schedule that might match the Huge Ten’s dedication to 9 convention video games, leveling the taking part in subject to ease comparisons throughout playoff choice.
Huge Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti speaks in the course of the 2025 Huge Ten Soccer Media Days at Mandalay Bay Conference Heart. (Photograph by Louis Grasse/Getty Pictures)
What sort of tone Petitti would make use of throughout his opening remarks on Tuesday was of widespread curiosity to the game’s powerbrokers amid an offseason that has seen the opposite three energy conferences — the SEC, the Huge 12 and the ACC — coalesce round a special proposed playoff format, the “5+11” mannequin, which options greater than twice as many at-large berths as computerized qualifiers. Although lengthy most well-liked by the Huge 12 and the ACC, two leagues struggling to maintain tempo atop the game, the “5+11” framework solely just lately emerged because the SEC’s alternative, with outspoken commissioner Greg Sankey beating that drum at his league’s media days occasion in Atlanta earlier this month. Sankey and the SEC’s coaches imagine their convention’s depth and power of schedule mission favorably onto a mannequin with extra at-large spots up for grabs.
Such a worldview clashes with the automated qualifier system most well-liked by Petitti and his constituents. The 4-4-2-2-1 mannequin would allocate 4 bids every to the Huge Ten and SEC, two apiece to the Huge 12 and ACC, and one for the highest-ranked Group of Six champion, with three at-large berths left over in a proposed 16-team subject. As a corollary, Petitti has additionally proposed that the Huge Ten play league-specific play-in video games over championship weekend that might pit groups from exterior the highest two within the convention standings in opposition to one another for an computerized spot within the playoff, an concept his coaches appear to broadly endorse — even when the SEC disagrees.
“We’re clearly not in the identical place on these discussions,” Petitti mentioned when requested concerning the deadlock between the Huge Ten and the SEC, two leagues which have the correct to manage adjustments to the CFP format and choice committee course of shifting ahead. “I believe there’s a number of concepts. I believe the aim can be to convey individuals again collectively, have a dialog of what we predict works and form of go from there. I’ll say, each time we have come along with the 2 leagues — we nonetheless have our presidents and advisory group assembly — good issues have occurred.”
One of many causes Petitti favors a mannequin heavy on computerized qualifiers is as a result of he feels it could offset the scheduling discrepancy between the Huge Ten, which performs 9 convention video games annually, and the SEC, which solely performs eight. The added issue of an additional convention opponent, Petitti believes, may go away Huge Ten groups uncovered in the course of the choice course of for a playoff wealthy with at-large bids.
That is very true if the SEC continues racking up victories in opposition to lower-level opponents in change for enjoying one much less league sport. Many SEC colleges schedule an FCS opponent late within the season to interrupt up the grueling convention grind, all however assuring themselves of a lopsided win within the course of. This 12 months’s slate consists of Ole Miss internet hosting The Citadel on Nov. 8, Kentucky internet hosting Tennessee Tech on Nov. 15 and Alabama internet hosting Jap Illinois on Nov. 22, amongst others, which gave Cignetti ammunition for his quip about Indiana copying the SEC’s scheduling philosophy by including video games in opposition to lesser opponents.
“We have to standardize the schedule throughout the board if we need to have goal standards for who ought to be within the playoffs and who should not,” Cignetti mentioned. “And we have to take the decision-making off the committee to some extent.”
“I really feel like till there’s continuity between conferences,” Ohio State head coach Ryan Day mentioned, “if you happen to’re within the Huge Ten, it could make no sense to have something aside from a case to have 4 [automatic] qualifiers and have an expanded pool of groups. As a result of if you play 9 convention video games, it’s not the identical as any person who performs eight convention video games. And so, if you happen to’re going to be in contrast in opposition to that, then it’s simply not the identical.”
“I simply suppose all of the leagues ought to play the identical quantity of convention video games,” Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule mentioned.
Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule speaks in the course of the 2025 Huge Ten Soccer Media Days at Mandalay Bay Conference Heart. (Photograph by Louis Grasse/Getty Pictures)
All of which distills right into a veritable chicken-or-the-egg dialogue for Petitti, who believes the problems of convention scheduling and CFP choice course of “go hand in hand.” He doesn’t need to decide to a playoff format with out realizing what number of convention video games every league is taking part in. And he’s adamant that the variety of convention video games every league is taking part in ought to affect the choice committee’s standards for inclusion within the playoff subject. That’s why Petitti and the Huge Ten coaches will proceed to dig their heels in relating to computerized qualifiers except or till the SEC provides a ninth convention sport.
So for now, and maybe an excellent whereas longer, the stalemate between school soccer’s two finest conferences has strengthened right into a high-stakes standoff.
“Every league,” Petitti mentioned, “will determine what they suppose the perfect convention schedule is for them.”
Michael Cohen covers school soccer and school basketball for FOX Sports activities. Comply with him at @Michael_Cohen13.
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