Another SEC School Ditches a Big 12 Series; SEC Doubles Down on Breakaway Threats

SEC commissioner Greg Sankey is doubling down on the possibility of the conference breaking away from the NCAA, and he is not the only one saying the threat is real.

Ross Dellenger has reported that an SEC breakaway could become a legitimate “Plan B” if the Protect College Sports Act fails to pass or does not give the SEC and Big Ten enough of what they want. Josh Pate has also said the threat should be taken seriously.

But what does “breaking away” actually mean?

In this video, John Kurtz examines Sankey’s latest comments from SEC Media Days and explains why the headlines may be getting ahead of the reality. Sankey suggested the SEC may be considering something closer to self-governance, including creating and enforcing its own eligibility rules, rather than completely separating from the rest of college football.

The video also explores whether the SEC is using breakaway talk as leverage against Congress, whether the conference could realistically succeed on its own, and why legal challenges involving players such as Diego Pavia, Trinidad Chambliss and Joey Aguilar would not simply disappear under a new system.

Topics discussed include:

Greg Sankey’s SEC breakaway comments
The Protect College Sports Act
Ross Dellenger’s report on the SEC’s “Plan B”
Josh Pate’s warning about the threat
SEC and Big Ten pressure on Congress
NCAA eligibility rules and enforcement
Whether the SEC could govern itself
The long-term future of college football

Is the SEC truly prepared to break away, or is this an effort to force action from Congress before time runs out?

Get “Open For Business,” a Big 12 newsletter… sign up below:
https://bit.ly/OFBNewsletter

#CollegeFootball #SEC #GregSankey #NCAA #CFB #Big12 #CollegeFootballPlayoff

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

When SEC Power dropped a Big 12 team from its schedule again, second time in two months, that has now happened. I know we all want to say it's because they're scared, right? Everybody's got the jokes today. That's not it exactly. But there is one clear thing happening here with the SEC doing this. And there's only one way that we're ever getting great non-conference matchups back. I continue to reference how important the BYU Notre Dame game is in the grand scheme of things this year in college football, but particularly if you are a Big 12 fan. And it's because of exactly what happened today. It is so hard to get big brands on your schedule. Period, really. You could just put a period on the end of that sentence no matter what conference you're in. But especially if you are a Big 12 or an ACC team, it's very difficult to get the big boys on your schedule. Even more difficult to get them coming to do a home and home. Like so many of these are going to neutral site games. How often do you get this shot if you're the Big 12? It doesn't happen very much. And by the way, Oregon, Oklahoma State falls into this category too. Ducks are going to go on the road to go play the pokes. We'll see if they're more ready for it this time around than they were last time. But man, I mean, the Big 12 actually is in a unique position there. I say the Big 12 of the ACC, at least the ACC has the tie in with Notre Dame, right? So you're going to get some cracks at Notre Dame. You also have Florida State, Florida. That's on the schedule every year. Clemson, South Carolina. You have some games. Now I know South Carolina's not really a big boy, but it is an SEC game. Big 12's got to cash that in. You don't have all of that built in. Oklahoma State does not get to play Oklahoma every year. You need to cash it in if you're BYU for credibility's sake, and it would be awesome if you can make it a long-term series, which BYU AD Brian Santiago told me on the channel in a video that you can see from Big 12 Media Days. But it's just a lost art in college football in general. Good non-conference games that are home and homes. Texas Notre Dame is a series that might not happen because of the SEC nine game schedule. You knew that was coming. This is the punchline, and it's why LSU Arizona State is now the latest series to not happen between a Big 12 team and an SEC team. LSU and Arizona State were scheduled to play in 2029 and 2030. The 2029 game would have been in Tempe. The 2030 game would have been in Baton Rouge. It sucks, but that is the news today. LSU is backing out of the series, and the reasoning that you're going to get from SEC teams for doing all this is because they're now going to a nine-game conference schedule. They don't want to open themselves up to other losses. So I realize you'll say, well, John, isn't that being scared? That's being scared. They're trying to schedule in the wisest possible way to get maximum access to the college football playoff. I can understand that. However, I would say their position right now, if you're listening to them at SEC Media Days, seems to be that they are not getting the best treatment from the selection committee already right now, and they're doing this to try and combat that. Whereas I would say it would be about maintaining your position because they continue to get more teams in every year than any other league while also not making the championship game. And label me an SEC hater if you want, but I just think that's being objective about it. You're not making the title game, yet you're demanding even more special representation in the playoff when you're already leading everybody in representation in the playoff. Back to the actual issue at hand here. It's the second time this has happened to Arizona State losing an SEC team from its schedule in recent memory. Florida just did it with games that were coming up in 2028 and 2031. So you would have had on-campus games against SEC teams in Florida and LSU in 28 and 29 if you were Arizona State. Arizona State's got a series with Texas AM. They're going to be in college station this year. So you've got to give Arizona State credit. They're busting their butts getting out there trying to schedule. Like any strength of schedule talk that you want to bring, you cannot bring it at Arizona State. And this is why it's frustrating to have a generalization labeled on a lot of schools here, like, oh, your strength of schedule's terrible and you guys don't do anything about it. And some schools are trying, but now SEC schools are not obliging. And it's a part of a pretty vicious cycle that I'm going to explain here in just a second. But it's it's worth mentioning. Alabama just dropped Oklahoma State. That was in May. So just last month, 2028 and 29. That series was going to happen. Bama dropped it once again because of the nine game conference schedule. Maybe because they saw Eric Morris and got scared of the offense. Look, I'm kidding. I'm kidding. I'm trying to have a real combo here, right? It's not, it's not purely like fear. It's trying to be smart and schedule smart. But the optics, I will say, I mean, for the SEC, once again, just objectively, the optics are not great considering what they've been talking about so far this week at SEC Media Days. Please do subscribe to the channel, by the way. You want a holistic view of college football? Click subscribe if you watch, but don't subscribe. It does really help. Right on the heels of a ton of complaining about strength of schedule and what other leagues are doing came this news about LSU dropping Arizona State. So, I mean, this week, Greg Sankey opened up with uh a press conference. He mentioned unsatisfactory talks with the playoff committee. They basically feel like the playoff committee is not going to value strength of schedule enough, and that they won't get the benefit of the doubt for like three loss teams versus, say, a one-loss Big 12 or ACC team. That seems to be their big issue. Then Eli Drinkwitz attacked the Big Ten over not having a requirement to play a power four non-conference game. Or at least the fact I think it's mostly a reference, I would have to imagine, to Indiana not playing a power four non-conference game last year, which they didn't. But Indiana also then just went like a buzzsaw through everybody in the playoff, including Alabama. I mean, just beat them to a pulp 38-3 in the Rose Bowl. So I it's a tough one for me to accept from Drinkwitz. I SEC coach's point would be our regular season is so much more difficult, and we're losing playoff access because of that. And they're not even playing a power four non-conference game, but literally on the heels of those comments. LSU dropped a power four non-conference game. I'm sure Drinkwitz would say, well, we're just doing it because they're doing it. Now you're in this like chicken or the egg, like he said, she said thing. But that's where we're at in college football, and that's what's really frustrating right now. We're in this moment of like everybody looking out so grossly for their own self-interest. Nobody's doing anything for the greater good of the sport, which, of course, in this case would be playing awesome cross-conference non-conference games. I think a part of this too is the SEC still just trying to find itself a bit after not winning a title three years in a row and being shoved down a bit from the top of the totem pole by the Big Ten. Now, listen to me closely. I didn't say the Big Ten had like definitively passed them because the Big Ten's top heavy and it's been better at the top lately, but the SEC is clearly much deeper. I read you Penn State schedule on the channel just the other day on the live show. Like Penn State's schedule is cushy, and that's a part of the Big Ten ethos right now. It's not very deep, but the the SEC is not winning up at the top, and so there is a lot of lashing out in all different directions. But this is how they've really kind of rigged the game against the Big 12 and the ACC. Once again, the SEC is a great, great league, and I'm totally cool with like strength of schedule should be a factor here. But if the SEC's actions actually you carry them out to their like nth degree, the end of them, where they're trying to push all this, it it quite literally is rigging the system against anybody outside of their conference or perhaps them in the Big Ten. Because the SEC's idea here is we've established over the last 20 years, pre-NIL era, that we're the best league. And so if we're playing nine conference games, our strength of schedule has to be insanely high. And you have to value that over anything. And now we're gonna stop playing power four non-conference games against a bunch of schools from the Big 12 or even Big Ten ACC. So there'll be no way to measure us against other leagues in that respect. You just have to take our word for it based on you know 2010 to 2021, that we were the greatest league. You have to take our word for it based on that. Use strength to schedule, and then we won't schedule anybody else. So it just, you see how this loop forms, and it's like, all right, so the SEC's the greatest in perpetuity. You don't give it a chance to be put to the test in the non-conference and being shown that you're wrong, and then you just rinse and repeat and keep going and keep going. That's where I feel for Arizona State here, because Arizona State was like, dude, screw it. We're confident, we'll play Texas AM, we'll take on LSU, like we'll play Florida, we'll go wherever, we'll play these games, and now they're they're getting dropped. Oklahoma State has been like, dude, bring on Oregon, bring on Alabama, and now Alabama is getting dropped. So by the way, we play Oklahoma every year because that's our nope, not anymore. This is a tough, self-fulfilling prophecy for schools outside of the SEC to deal with. And I I know, I'm sure like some of that's the point. I get it. Some of that's the point. We call the shots, we've got the power, we're gonna do, but I just wish the entire sport, we're not here, but I just wish the entire sport would like take a step back, stop screaming at each other about all this for a moment, and just be like, look, can we be honest? Like, this is not, this is not good. It's not a good thing for anybody. Hopefully, if we this is the one saving grace. I did promise you this as well. The one saving grace. If we get a 2014 playoff, I do think that a lot of this could come back around, and then we could start getting better non-conference matchups. Significance of those games wouldn't be quite as high because there's more room for error with a 2014 playoff. But if we get that, you will probably start seeing better games, I would have to imagine. SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey doubled down on the threat of breaking away. So did an ESPN reporter, so did Josh Pate, saying that these are legit threats. So should we all roll our eyes or do we take this seriously? And are we actually all just misunderstanding Greg Sankey? We actually might be, and I know you'll you'll be surprised to hear me say that, but hear me out, okay? Ross Dellinger reported over the weekend that an SEC breakaway was a legitimate possibility if the SEC does not like what comes of the Senate bill, the Protect College Sports Act. Be it that it doesn't pass, or if it passes and they don't get enough of what they want, the SEC could go to what they are calling plan B, which would be a breakaway. I can't do that every single time without thinking about Austin Powers preparations A through G have failed. So here comes preparation H.

unknown 11:30

Anyway.

SPEAKER_00 11:31

Uh Greg Sankey said at SEC Media Days, there have been, quote, real conversations about whether the league should break away. Quote, people have talked about that, the frustrations that bring them to the point of saying we should look at something significantly different. I do not believe that is a leverage point. I think that's honest communication. All right, well, that's chum in the water for everybody on both sides of the like deal. Love the SEC or hate the SEC debate, right? Like SEC fans are gonna be like, hell yeah, we can break away from all you chumps. We don't need you. We'll crown our SEC champion, that'll be the national champion, everybody will watch, it'll be great. And then if you hate the SEC, you're like, you arrogant, you know, like you guys really think you can do this. What is this? That's what that was from Sankey. Now, he clarified a lot of that later on, and I think that's where we do need to hear him out. Okay, I will get to that. But let's start with this. It is definitely a leverage point. I mean, whether he wants to say that or admit it or not, Greg Sankey, it is a leverage point. Even if that's not the true intention of it, it's creating leverage in the situation where in the Senate, this bill, I mean, it's uh against the clock. It's July 21st, dude. There's an August recess. You still got to get this thing through the House. Uh once you get close to the midterm elections coming up in November, good luck getting this accomplished. So there's there's a time crunch. And the SEC, by doing this, can be like, hey, it's like, yeah, you better bow a knee to what the SEC and Big Ten want from this if the SEC is going to threaten to break away right now. That's the general idea. That may not be the direct that I'm sure they're having real conversations about this. I believe them. I know that there's a lot of frustration for a bunch of different reasons in the SEC right now. But the byproduct of that is that you do create leverage. So I just want to, I just want to point that out. That is happening, whether Greg Sankey is saying that it's the reason for it or not. And I definitely believe that the SEC is earnest in these conversations and believing, like, yeah, hey, we could break away. I mean, the Georgia president talked about this a couple months ago, and I I am quite confident after hearing what he had to say that he believes the SEC could break off and just be its own entity and thing and be totally fine. And look, they're not totally wrong. Like, obviously, people would watch. You would watch the SEC. I understand that. I believe what the, if I'm paraphrasing correctly, the Georgia president here, he was saying we would have our two best teams play and crown a national champion, and a ton of people would watch. Yeah, a ton of people would watch, but the I mean, the Indiana-Miami rating last year and the actual national championship game was much higher than the SEC championship game. Okay. It's not going to do a number as big as what a real national championship game would for the college football playoffs. So it would diminish the product a bit. And you know my thoughts over time, there would be diminishing returns, would be my opinion, if the SEC or the SEC in Big Ten were to break away. I think they do need the rest of college football to a degree. But they're right in the short term, like they could certainly survive. It would not just like cut everything off. I just don't think it's good long-term strategy. Here's where Greg Sanke comes in. Okay. He talked to Brandon Marcello to try and explain this a little bit deeper. And you do need to hear him out, even if you're a Sankey hater. Please do subscribe to the channel, by the way. You want college football from all angles, holistic view of the sport, please do click subscribe. Uh Greg Sankey said the headline has been, he basically was like, the headlines have gotten a bit out of control. You can see this on my Twitter account if you want to watch the video at JL Kurtz. But the paraphrasing here is he said the headline about a total breakaway isn't really accurate. And what they actually talk about is should they create and enforce their own rules? Like, should they create and enforce their own eligibility rules instead of following the NCAA's eligibility rules? That was the example that he gave there. So he makes it sound less like a breakaway and more just like governing themselves and saying, hey, we don't care about what the NCAA rules say, because good luck, NCAA and trying to enforce them anyway, see Brendan Soresby saga. We're just gonna follow our own conference rules and not worry about what the rest of you guys are doing. That seems to be what he's talking about. Now, even with that, I think there are a number of issues to raise just in terms of how practical it would be to actually work. Because who a bunch of these lawsuits that have been filed that are part of the reason the SEC is frustrated, they've been filed by SEC players like Diego Pavia, Trinidad Chambliss, Joey Aguilar, like all over eligibility. They've been from the SEC. So what is there really? I know the SEC thinks it would be more insulated from legal threats, but that doesn't mean that the legal action wouldn't come and you would still be just right back in a courtroom dealing with this and defending some of this. Because here's the thing, man, everyone's out for themselves. So they can say SEC, SEC, we're with you until something affects their star quarterback for that year. They're gonna old miss would be, just for an example, would be in the courtroom against you. If their quarter, Trinidad Chamblis, a quarterback of that caliber, is gonna be held out that year. It's college sports, man. I mean, where were people breaking the rules the most, at least reputationally, pre-NIL? It was the SEC. Like, I just I don't know that even governing yourself is gonna really fix the problem as much as the SEC may think that it will. I understand where it's coming from, and they're totally accurate and and fine to be in the position that they're at where this is all coming from, which is just like, hey, this is chaos. It's not working as a system of governance. We don't even really have governance. So if we don't get this help, we've got to do something. We just have to try and do something. You know, I mean, I read over and over any success book you want to read that talks about like managing anxiety, the answer to it is action. Like, go do something. Go do something about it. And that this feels like that to me from the SEC. Like, we won't just sit back idly by if we don't get the help that we need from the Senate right now. We will try to do something. That really feels like what they're trying to say here. It's just will doing something accomplish what they think it will? That to me is the big question. I think ultimately we just gotta see how this Senate bill plays out. We just gotta see how the Senate bill plays out. There's a lot still to come. And if you want to know the latest on that, the concessions that the SEC and Big Ten may be getting out of Ted Cruz and Maria Cantwell for this Senate bill, click here.